Big drop in child surgery for swallowed objects

Society’s move to cashless payments may have had an unintended positive side effect, surgeons say – fewer children needing operations or procedures to remove swallowed coins.
The Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) experts looked back over hospital records in England since the Millennium.
Procedures to remove foreign objects, including coins, from children’s throats, airways and noses saw a “significant decline”, of almost 700 cases by 2022.
Historically, coins had accounted for over 75% of objects swallowed by under-sixes, they told a medical journal.
According to the UK Payments Markets Survey, cards began outstripping cash in 2012.

Courtesy: BBC