MANILA – Close to 100 people sustained firecracker-related injuries on New Year’s Day alone but the total number is still lower compared that on the same day last year, the Department of Health (DOH) said.
Based on DOH’s Fireworks-Related Injury (FWRI) Surveillance report released on Wednesday, there were 98 cases of firecracker-related injuries recorded on Jan. 1 – bringing up the total cases to 236 from Dec. 21, 2018 to Jan. 2, 2019.
The numbers were still lower 52 percent as compared to 492 recorded in 2018 and 71 percent lower than the 814 five-year average.
It is, however, still not a welcome sight, according to DOH secretary Francisco Duque.
“We continue to remind parents to be on the lookout for their children’s safety,” Duque said. “We’re calling on the parents to search through [their children’s] rooms, drawers, other places, where your children might keep fireworks.”
He added: “Gather them, place them in a plastic with water and bury them in the ground to ensure your families are safe. There are still late reports of injuries for picking up firecrackers or lighting up unused fireworks.”
The National Capital Region still has the most injuries at 35 cases, followed by Region 1 (22), Region 6 (13), Region 7 (6), Region 4-A (5), Region 3 (4), three each from the ARMM and Region V, and two each from Regions IV-B and XII.
Most of the affected were between the ages of two to 75 years old, with a median age of 16 years old; 187 were male while the 49 others were females.
From the total injuries as of Wednesday, two were due to “fireworks ingestion.” Legal fireworks such as luces and kwitis were the main source of injuries of the 140 victims, while others were due to prohibited piccolo, boga and five-star.
The Health department also said 180 cases were blast or burn injuries without amputation; eight cases were blast or burn injuries with amputation; and 61 cases were eye injuries.
DOH’s monitoring will end on Jan. 5./PN
