DOH: 43 firecracker-related injuries as New Year’s Eve draws near

MANILA, Philippines — A total of 43 injuries related to fireworks and firecrackers have been recorded as New Year’s Eve draws near, the Department of Health (DOH) said Saturday.

The DOH has recorded three additional cases on Friday morning, Dec. 28.

From December 21 to December 25, the DOH said 43 persons were hurt because of fireworks and firecrackers while one case was due to “fireworks ingestion,” citing its Fireworks-Related Injury (FWRI) Surveillance report.

The agency also noted that the latest tally of fireworks and firecracker injury cases is 51 percent lower than the cases reported in the same period last year.

“This is 44 cases lower compared to the same reporting period of 2017 and 129 cases (75 percent) lower than d 5-year average,” DOH said in a statement.

The DOH report showed that majority or about 91 percent of those who suffered injuries from fireworks and firecrackers were male.

It also noted that those who were injured were between the ages of 2 and 69.

The DOH said that almost half, or 20 cases, were caused by illegal fireworks and firecrackers.

In the report, the injuries were inflicted by the use of “boga” or PVC cannon (12), “kwitis” or rocket (5) , triangle firecracker (3), piccolo (3), baby rocket (2), “bawang” (2), camara (2), and “luces” or sparklers (2).

DOH also said that 59 percent, or 24 cases, were blast or burn injuries without amputation; 12 percent or five cases were blast or burn injuries with amputation and 34 percent or 14 cases were eye injuries.

The health agency said that here are a total of 60 hospitals or “sentinel” sites that are being monitored by the DOH for FWRI.  /muf