With New Year’s Eve just a few days away, government hospitals across the country have raised the “code white alert” for possible firework-related injuries.
Code white alert means that emergency services are on standby 24/7 and doctors and nurses are on call for duty.
The East Avenue Medical Center has prepared medical equipment, medicines, and disinfectant for firecracker-related injury treatment at the emergency ward.
“As of yesterday, we’ve had no fireworks-related injury. Based on previous years, we’d have some cases by now,” said Dr. John Paul Ner, medical specialist 2 at East Avenue Medical Center.
Some seven more cases of fireworks-related injuries were logged in the Philippines, bringing the caseload 39 percent higher than last year, the Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday.
Based on the DOH’s recent fireworks-related injury surveillance report, the cumulative number of fireworks-related injuries from Dec. 21 to Dec. 28 now stood at 32.
This was an increase from the 23 cases reported during the same period in 2021.
Of these 32 cases, seven were logged in the Western Visayas, while four each came from the Bicol Region and Soccsksargen, the DOH said.
Central Visayas and the National Capital Region (NCR) recorded three cases each, while Ilocos Region, Central Luzon, Mimaropa, and Davao Region had two each.
One case was each registered in Cagayan Valley, Calabarzon, and Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR).
A total of 16 of these cases sustained injuries on the eye, 12 on the hand, four on the forearm or arm, one on the head, one on the neck, one on the chest, one on the back, and another one on the foot.
The DOH said 22 victims got the fireworks-related injuries at home, while 10 got the injuries on the street.
Five of them were also allegedly intoxicated at the time of the accident.
The top fireworks involved were boga, whistle bomb, 5-star, kwitis, and camara.
There were still no reports of firework ingestion or stray bullet injuries so far, the DOH said.
An official of the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines Inc. (PHAPI), meanwhile, warned that cases of asthma attacks and other respiratory illnesses usually increase during the celebration of New Year due to smoke emitted from fireworks.
“That’s normal. These cases really increase, especially right after the festivities and lighting of fireworks. If you will look, the pollution is really increasing because of the firecrackers,” PHAPI president Dr. Jose Rene de Grano said at a public briefing.
“These are very bad for those with asthma and respiratory illnesses,” he said.
