With New Year still days away, the number of fireworks-related injuries has reached 24 with the addition of 11 new cases, the Department of Health reported Wednesday.
The department said this was 54 percent lower than the same reporting period in 2017 and 52 percent lower than the five-year average.
Only one of the new cases—a six-year-old boy in Tondo, Manila—involved the ingestion of fireworks. He was taken to UP-Philippine General Hospital on Christmas Day.
Of the blast injuries, six resulted in eye injury while three necessitated amputation.
The 11 new cases came from Metro Manila, Western Visayas, Calabarzon, Bicol, Central Visayas, and the Zamboanga Peninsula.
Twenty-one of the 24 victims were male with ages ranging from 2 to 49. Ten injuries were due to illegal fireworks—boga, triangle and kwitis.
Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III told hospitals to be ready for any eventualities during the holiday celebration when alcohol and fireworks sometimes become the center of merriment.
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He said the best way to prevent injuries was to organize a community fireworks display.
“This is a safer way because skilled personnel handle the lighting of the fireworks,” he said.
Meanwhile, Metro Manila police director Guillermo Eleazar urged the public to report incidents of indiscriminate firing of guns in their community during the New Year celebration.
Eleazar also warned policemen who are caught firing their firearms during the revelry will face dismissal from the service.
The Metro Manila police chief said he would deploy more uniformed policemen in areas where indiscriminate firing of guns were reported in previous celebrations.
He also ordered the cancellation of the rest and recreation and other leave applications of policemen and directed them to report for duty during the holidays.
Last year, authorities arrested two military men accused of firing their guns indiscriminately on New Year’s Eve.
Taguig City police arrested S/Sgt. Jamael Mindalano and Cpl. Richard John Quijan, both of Special Operations Command-Presidential Security Group.
They were charged with indiscriminate firing, alarm and scandal, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, physical injury, direct assault, resisting arrest and serious disobedience.
Also on Wedensday, the environmentalist group Ecowaste Coalition asked parents to properly guide their children in using horns as an alternative to firecrackers and fireworks this New Year.
“If a torotot [horn] is the preferred noisemaker, parents should select a well-made torotot and supervise a child while she or he plays with it. The importance of parental responsibility cannot be overemphasized as the torotots being sold in the market contain zero instruction on proper use and their quality and safety cannot be guaranteed,” said Ecowaste chemical safety campaigner Thony Dizon.
“While a torotot will not blow off a child’s fingers or give off toxic fumes, it may cause injuries requiring medical care as well as add to the revelry garbage,” he said.
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Among the potential injuries from the use of torotot are 1) choking due to the accidental ingestion of the horn’s mouthpiece or whistle, 2) cuts or lacerations due to the sharp edges of the horn’s bell, and 3) noise-induced hearing loss due to loud sounds.
“A torotot contains small parts like the mouthpiece or whistle that can be detached and get swallowed by a child causing an airway blockage,” Dizon said.
Dizon cited the two choking incidents in 2010 involving children aged 3 and 8, which prompted the Food and Drug Administration to issue a health advisory.
“Some cone-shaped plastic horns have sharp edges that can cut a child’s sensitive skin,” he said.
“Also, some torotot may produce very loud sounds that can be harmful or distressing to humans as well as animals,” Dizon said, adding that “sound exceeding 85 decibels can damage hearing.”
Ecowaste also said torotot add to the New Year revelry garbage.
“The proliferation of plastic torotots is a cause of concern as this may be unnecessarily adding to the mounting plastic pollution that the global community is faced with and is trying to address,” he said.
“The plastic torotots after their useful lives will have to go somewhere and we are not sure how much of these are reused or recycled at all,” he said.
READ: DOH: Four new cases of fireworks related injuries