ILOILO City – Western Visayas was able to drastically reduce the number of firecracker blast injuries during the holiday season with no deaths recorded, the Department of Health (DOH) said.
From Dec. 21, 2020 to Jan. 1, 2021, DOH Region 6 reported only 20 firecracker-related injuries, 64 percent lower than the cases reported in the same period in 2020.
Of the six provinces and two highly-urbanized cities in the region, only the island province of Guimaras and the city of Iloilo had no case of firecracker blast injuries within the 10-day period.
Six of the firecracker blast injuries were reported by DOH-designated sentinel sites (government hospitals) while 14 were from non-sentinel sites.
The province of Iloilo had the most number of cumulative blast injuries within the period at seven, followed by Negros Occidental (four), Aklan (three), Antique (three), Bacolod City (two), and Capiz (one).
The age of the blast victims ranged from four years old to 50 years old, with those in the age range between 11 to 16 having the most number of injuries.
Dr. Bea Natalaray, head of DOH-6’s Non-Communicable Disease Sector, said the significant reduction in the total number of recorded cases may be attributed to the far-reaching effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which affected people’s willingness and ability to celebrate through the use of fireworks.
“Since nga may pandemic, may financial restrictions ang mga pumoluyo,” explained Natalaray.
The lower numbers, she added, may also be attributed to the strengthened initiatives of local government units in regulating firecrackers and the efforts of national government agencies and stakeholders through the “Iwas Paputok” campaign.
The most common type of firecrackers that caused injuries, according to DOH-6, were boga, kwitis, trianggulo, whistle bomb, and kamara.
On the other hand, the most common body parts affected by firecracker blasts were the eyes and hands.
“Ang tanan nga 20 cases were all treated naman kag nakapauli na sa ila tagsa ka mga balay,” said Natalaray.
There were no reports of death due to firecrackers, she added.
DOH-6’s monitoring will be until Jan. 5./PN
