MANILA – A total of 19 firecracker-related injuries, with one amputation, were reported by the Department of Health’s (DOH) Epidemiology Bureau on Thursday.
This brings to 61 the total number of injuries recorded since Dec. 21, the bureau said in its Aksyon: Paputok Injury Reduction 2017 Report 7.
“This is 98 (62 percent) cases lower than the five-year (2012-2016) average and 47 (44 percent) cases lower than the same time period last year,” read the report.
The number of amputees has reached four after a 13-year-old boy from Sipalay City, Negros Occidental lost a finger on his right hand after igniting a Bazooka, an illegal firecracker. He was taken to the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital.
Of the 61 injured, 58 were male; 49 were active users; 48 occurred on the streets; and 41 injured their hands. Some 36 of them handled the illegal firecracker, Piccolo.
Some 32 of the 61 cases were from the National Capital Region (NCR), with Manila accounting for 20.
So far, there has been no case of stray bullet injury and fireworks ingestion.
The DOH conducts the "Iwas Paputok Campaign" annually to raise public awareness on the dangers of lighting firecrackers. It instead encourages people to watch community fireworks displays. (PNA/Photo courtesy of DOH)
