Infant scalded with hot water in critical condition

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SANTIAGO.- Eight month old Renato Mateluna Ruz is in critical condition, breathing only with the help of a mechanical ventilator. 25% of his body was severely burned in a household accident in the Municipality of El Monte.

This was the information provided by Dr. Eduardo Ferreiro, head of the Children’s Intensive Care Unit at the San Borja Arriarán Hospital, in a medical report about the child's current state of health.

According to the doctor, the accident happened just after 7:00pm yesterday when Renato pulled at a tablecloth on a table that had a cup of boiling water on top of it, causing the water to spill on him.

The accident left him with burns on his neck, his frontal thorax, his arms and his left leg, comprising 25% of the surface of his body.

"This is a very severe percentage for a patient who is only nine months old. The burns go very deep. Last night we gave them an initial cleaning and once he is stable we are going to perform a necretomy, a procedure to remove the burned tissue and make grafts” explained Ferreiro.