READY A section of East Avenue Medical Center, a primary trauma hospital in Quezon City, has been readied to treat firecracker blast victims. LYN RILLON
The number of people hurt by exploding firecrackers and pyrotechnic devices climbed to 55 on New Year’s Eve, as nine more victims were added to the list being monitored by the Department of Health (DOH).
The DOH’s fireworks-related injury (FWRI) surveillance report covered cases from 6 a.m. of Dec. 21 to 6 a.m. of Dec. 31. FWRI surveillance runs from Dec. 21 to Jan. 5 of the following year. It receives reports from 60 sentinel hospitals.
Eye injuries, burns
But the health department noted that the latest count was 56 cases (50 percent) fewer than what was recorded in the same period in 2017. The figure was also 166 cases (75 percent) lower than the five-year average.
In its report, the DOH said that the new cases included four injuries from Western Visayas region, and a case each from Central Visayas, Ilocos, Central Luzon, Eastern Visayas and Soccsksargen regions.
Of the 55 victims, 53 were injured by exploding fireworks, while the rest swallowed firecrackers. Five of the blast victims had to undergo amputation, 19 had eye injuries while the rest sustained burns.
Buy legal
As the country prepared to welcome the New Year, officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) said they were hoping that fewer injuries and fires due to firecracker use would be reported.
“To our countrymen, let’s just buy what is prescribed in the law and what is legal. We follow [the President’s] Executive Order No. 28, stating we can only set off fireworks and firecrackers in community display areas in our barangays,” PNP Director General Oscar Albayalde said in an earlier interview.