By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

A five-year-old child in Sipalay City died last Monday after reportedly choking on wafer crisps.
Authorities have requested not to identify the victim, but they confirmed they were a resident of the city’s Barangay Gil Montilla.
In a radio interview with Aksyon Radyo-Bacolod, Dr. Josabele Macoti said the child was rushed to the city’s infirmary after they stopped breathing. When medical staff interviewed the victim’s mother, they were told she was working in the house when she heard her child call for help as they were choking.
Medical staff attempted to revive the victim through cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, but they passed away 45 minutes after the incident.
The doctor added, the child could have been saved if the parents knew the Heimlich  maneuver.
The Heimlich maneuver is a first-aid procedure for dislodging an obstruction from a person’s windpipe in which sudden strong pressure is applied on the abdomen, between the navel and the rib cage./DGB, WDJ