A TOTAL of 44,818 Chinese babies were born in Malaysia last year, up by 0.3% or 4,569 persons from the previous year, reported China Press.
According to Statistics Department chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin, Malaysia saw the birth of 455,761 babies last year.
Among them, 67% were Malays, followed by other bumiputra (12.7%), Chinese (9.8%), others (6.1%) and Indians (4.4%).
The newborns comprised 235,981 boys and 219,780 girls.
Mohd Uzir said the total fertility rate rose from 1.6 children per woman, aged between 15 and 49, in 2022 to 1.7 in 2023.
He added that all states recorded an increase in the crude birth rate (CBR) last year except for Putrajaya.
The state with the highest CBR at 21.6 births was Terengganu while Kuala Lumpur recorded the lowest CBR at 10.7 births per 1,000 population.
> The daily also reported doctors in China found the rectum of a girl stuffed with the undigested shells of sunflower seeds when she sought treatment for constipation. The 12-year-old, who was wearing braces, found it inconvenient to peel off the shell, so she ate the whole seeds.
Dr Zhou Peng, the head of paediatric surgery at Zibo Maternal and Child Health Hospital in Shandong province, said they had to remove the shells with forceps from the anus.
The operating theatre was filled with a terrible stench, he said.
Despite wearing double masks, the doctor said he had to step aside to catch his breath every few minutes.
“The girl is recovering well after the treatment,” he added.
The news sparked discussions online with people questioning how she could swallow the hard shells.
Anhui Medical University Affiliated Fuyang Hospital’s Paediatrics Department deputy chief Dr Wei Guodong said sunflower seed shells might seem harmless if ingested but they might not be easily expelled and could accumulate in the intestines if consumed in large quantities, causing bowel obstruction.
He warned parents to be careful in preparing food for their children, whose digestive system is still relatively weak.
● The above article is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with this ' >'sign, it denotes a separate news item.
