THE Department of Health said on Thursday the number of fireworks-related cases since Dec. 21 has reached 185 on New Year’s Eve, but the number is still lower than the previous years.
“The 185 cases is 62 percent lower than the five-year [2010-2014] average of 308 cases and 57 percent lower than the 250 cases during same period last year,” said DOH spokesperson Lyndon Lee Suy.
DoH records show that 36 more people were injured from firecracker blasts as of 6 a.m. of Dec. 31, bringing to 181 the total number of firecracker-related injuries since the monitoring started. The four others are gunshot-related.
The illegal Piccolo firecracker remained the leading cause of injuries at 133 cases, followed by Five-Star, 9 cases; Kwitis, 6; Boga, 5 while unknown firecrackers caused injuries to seven people.
The DoH said that 149 of the firecracker-related injuries are children below 14 years old. The ages of the cases ranged from one year to 52 years old.
Hand injuries were sustained in 135 cases while 20 cases had head injuries. Three of them required amputation. A total of 155, or 86 percent, of the victims were males.
The report also said a number of 142 victims were active igniters while the rest of the individuals who sustained injuries were passive or did not ignite firecrackers themselves and were merely bystanders and innocent victims.”¨”¨Revelers traditionally set off firecrackers, including potentially deadly types with names like “Goodbye Philippines,” and shoot guns into the air to celebrate the festive season.
The DoH also recorded one more case of stray bullet incident. The victim was a nine-year-old girl from Marikina City who was hit in the left chest while inside their house.
The stray bullet victim was admitted to the Amang Rodriguez Medical Center on Wednesday but was later transferred to the Marikina Valley Hospital.
Reports from the DoH’s 50 sentinel hospitals nationwide indicated Metro Manila accounted for 85 cases with 26 cases coming from Quezon City; 22 from Manila; 10 from Mandaluyong; 5 each from Parañaque and Las Piñas and 3 from Marikina.
Majority of the firework-related injuries were recorded in the National Capital Region with a total of 85 cases.
In the Bicol region, 31 cases were recorded while regions 11 (Davao) and IV-A (Calabarzon) recorded 15 cases each.
The DoH monitoring and surveillance of firework-related injuries will end on Jan. 5, 2016.
The DoH has reminded those injured by firecrackers to have anti-tetanus shots to prevent fatal consequences.
