Muslims around the world celebrate the month of Ramadan. This means that nothing may be eaten or drunk from sunrise to sunset. A 15-year-old boy from Brunsbüttel in Schleswig-Holstein also followed this rule. He held out for a week, then was too weak and collapsed on a pavement. Two women were able to come to the teenager’s aid.
The women, aged 41 and 55, found the boy lying unconscious on the street in Brunsbüttel on Monday and called 911, according to police on Tuesday. By phone, they were guided in resuscitating the boy. By the time the ambulance arrived, the women had managed it: the boy was back in a stable condition. He was taken to hospital.
According to the police, the 15-year-old boy from Syria had already been fasting for a week, according to his parents, and had apparently collapsed for this reason.
Doctors repeatedly appeal to Muslim parents not to let their children fast during Ramadan. From a medical point of view, fasting is harmful for children and adolescents, especially the lack of fluids, explained the President of the Professional Association of Paediatricians and Adolescent Doctors, Thomas Fischbach, in the medical portal “aerzteblatt.de”. According to Fischbach, paediatricians and adolescent doctors repeatedly spot very pale and unfocused children during Ramadan. “Some come to us straight from school because they have collapsed, because they have a severe headache or stomach ache,” says the paediatrician.