Hospitals go on alert for New Year revelry

MANILA, Philippines — Private hospitals nationwide are on “red alert” for possible firecracker-related injuries during the New Year revelry.

According to Dr. Jose de Grano, president of the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines Inc., their member-hospitals are prepared for any eventuality, including treatment of firecracker-related injuries during the celebration.

“Almost all hospitals, we can say, are on red alert and prepared,” he said, adding however that they are expecting fewer cases of fireworks-related injuries because they also expect a strict enforcement of ordinances against illegal firecrackers.

Based on the Department of Health (DOH) Firework-Related Injury Surveillance Report, as of Dec. 29, there were 25 injuries related to fireworks, 108 percent higher compared to 2020 with 13 reported cases.

Most of the injuries were among minors aged 9 to 16 years old.

Twenty of the cases had blast or burn injuries, seven of which required amputation. Six others sustained eye injuries.

The DOH said most of the cases were due to prohibited firecrackers, such as boga, five-star and piccolo, which accounted for the top causes of injuries.

It added that there were no fireworks ingestion, stray bullet injury or death reported.

Philippine National Police chief Gen. Dionardo Carlos ordered police units to constantly coordinate with the DOH to synchronize their data on firecracker-related injuries.

“We have previous experience that some victims [don’t] report to the PNP, especially those with only minor injuries. The tendency is these cases will not be recorded in our police blotter while the hospitals or the DOH has taken note of them,” Carlos said in a statement on Wednesday.

Prevent inconsistency

The move, according to the PNP, will prevent inconsistency of data among government agencies that may confuse the public.

“Accurate numbers are important to assess the result of our campaign for a safe and orderly celebration of the New Year. It won’t hurt anything if we just double-check the figures,” Carlos explained.

The government wants to continue the downward trend of firecracker-related injuries since 2017, when President Duterte signed Executive Order No. 28, confining firecracker use to “community fireworks displays” supervised by the police and local governments.

He said they would abide by the directive of the Department of the Interior and Local Government to crack down on the manufacture, sale and use of illegal firecrackers and pyrotechnic.

“If they do not want to follow, arrest them. It’s better for them to spend the New Year inside jails than to cause harm because of illegal firecrackers,” Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said.