DOH urges public: Bang pots and pans in welcoming New Year
MANILA, Philippines—Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Enrique Ona appealed to the public to look for alternative ways of merry-making hours before the New Year’s Eve revelry.
He called on the people to “think of alternative ways to make noises like trumpets and banging of pots and pans,” in order to minimize any harm that may be caused by fireworks, he said in a press conference at the East Avenue Medical Center Saturday.
He also said that there have already been so many unlucky events that happened in the year such as the disastrous floods in Mindanao caused by Tropical Storm “Sendong” that left more than a thousand dead.
“Let’s not add more,” he said. “If we do not bring down the number of accidents, [there could be] up to 1,000 victims within the next 10 hours,” he added.
Ona cited the latest figures of the “Aksyon Paputok Injury Reduction” (APIR) which showed the most number of victims from firecrackers were from the National Capital Region (NCR).
From December 21 to 30, there have been 197 cases of fireworks injury, 114 of which are from the NCR.
The Ilocos region had 14 cases and region IV-A (Calabarzon) had 12 cases.
He added that “60 to 70 percent of the victims were children, aged 10 years and younger.”
“I would like to also call on the parents to never allow their children to play with firecrackers, and especially to not allow them to pick up unexploded firecrackers,” he said.
He also cited one case in the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center where a victim needed to have his leg amputated after a “Goodbye Philippines” firecracker exploded near his leg.
As of 6 p.m. Saturday, 81 injuries caused by firecrackers have been recorded by the DOH from seven hospitals: Amang Rodriquez Medical Center, East Avenue Medical Center, Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center, The Medical City, Ospital ng Tondo, Philippine Orthopedic Hospital, and Velenzuela Medical Center.
The DOH will release an hourly quick count report of the latest number of injuries caused by fireworks, Ona said.
