ILOILO City – Western Visayas (WV) logged a total of 212 firecracker blast injuries from Dec. 21, 2022 to Jan. 6, 2023.
As of 5:59 a.m. on Jan. 6, 36 firecracker-related injuries were recorded in Department of Health (DOH) sentinel hospitals while 176 were from non-sentinel sites, according to Dr. May Ann Sta. Lucia, officer-in-charge chief of DOH Region 6’s Local Health Support Division.
The recent Yuletide cases almost doubled compared to the 130 cases recorded the same period last year.
Majority of the cases were from Negros Occidental with 77, followed by Iloilo province with 64, Aklan (20), Capiz and Bacolod City (16 each), Antique (10), Iloilo City (six) and Guimaras (three).
Data further showed that most of the firecracker-related injuries were burn/blast and eye injuries and mostly caused by illegal boga or PVC cannon and kamara.
The age groups with the highest cases were one to 10 years old and 11 to 20 years old.
Sta. Lucia lamented that tradition and the belief that firecrackers can shoo away bad spirits were the reasons why people continue to use firecrackers to celebrate holidays despite the risks.
She also cited other factors such as Western Visayas having the most number of firecracker retailers in the country and the excitement of the people to celebrate holidays after two years of constraints due to the coronavirus pandemic./PN
