Nursery penalised after 'burned baby' case

UAE authorities decided to punish an Abu Dhabi-based nursery found guilty of negligence and violating labour laws after an illegally hired worker used boiling water in cleaning a 10-month-old Emirati boy, causing serious burns to his pelvis and hips.

After an investigation into last week’s incident, the Ministry of Social Affairs found that the worker is not sponsored by the nursery and she did not check the water before applying it on the baby.

“The Ethiopian worker put the baby under hot water without first touching the water to check its temperature as she did not want to use her hands directly in cleaning him,” said Mouza Al Shamsi, director of the child care section at the Ministry.

“The Ministry of Social Affairs fined the nursery for causing harm to the baby and contacted the Ministry of Labour to penalize the nursery for illegally hiring that Ethiopian worker,” she told the Dubai-based Arabic language daily Emarat Alyoum.

She said the baby is still in hospital after suffering from serious burns, adding that the Ministry would take further measures against the nursery. She said investigation showed the Ethiopian nursery worker is not qualified as she does not have any relevant certificates.

“The Ministry of course would not have given her a work permit had she applied for a job at a nursery,” she said.

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