DOH ‘pleased’ with low number of New Year firecracker victims

INQUIRER FILE

The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday said it was “relatively pleased” to announce that the number of firecracker injuries recorded from Dec. 21, 2017, to Jan. 1, 2018, was only 191, lower by 45 percent from last year.

In 2017, the DOH recorded 350 firecracker-related injuries during the same period.

“We are relatively pleased … because of the substantial reduction, decrease in fireworks-related injuries from Dec. 21, 2017 to January 1, 2018,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque II said in a press conference at East Avenue Medical Center.

According to Duque, 115 of the 191 cases came from the National Capital Region.

The City of Manila posted 63 injuries, the highest among the cities. Quezon City followed with 14, Pasig with 11, and Valenzuela with 6, Duque said.

Majority of the cases, or 162, were blast injuries without amputations, 25 were eye injuries and several blast injuries with amputation.

The health secretary said there were no reported deaths.

“We would like to thank first and foremost President Duterte for signing and passing Executive Order No. 28 which truly reinforce the effort of DOH and complemented the efforts of other concerned agencies such as DILG, BFP, PNP, and Eco-Waste Coalition,” he said.

Duque further thanked the public for the “strong cooperation” as the country celebrated the New Year. /cbb