New Year 2018 fireworks-related injuries down by 27% —DOH

An overall 27 percent reduction in fireworks-related injuries (FWRI) was recorded by the Department of Health (DOH) from December 21, 2017 to January 5, 2018 compared to the same period last year.

In a statement on Monday, the DOH said that 463 FWRIs were recorded during this period. No cases of fireworks ingestion, stray bullet injuries, or deaths were reported by any sentinel hospitals around the country.

Most or 79 percent of the cases were males and a majority of all cases were aged 11 to 69. About 77 percent of all injuries occurred in the streets and 55 percent were active users when the injury took place.

Of the 463 cases, 248 came from the National Capital Region (NCR), followed by 45 cases from Ilocos Region, CALABARZON, Western Visayas, 28 from Central Luzon, and 15 from Central Visayas and Bicol.

Manila accounted for 116 cases of the 248. Quezon City (30 cases), Valenzuela City (17), Pasig City (16), Marikina City (14), and Caloocan and Mandaluyong (13) followed.

Only 4 percent of all injuries required amputation. These cases were aged three to 62 and were mostly caused by camara, piccolo, and whistle bomb.

Hand injuries (49 percent) were the most common injuries, followed by eye (17 percent), forearm and arm (14 percent), head (13 percent), and legs (9 percent).

Piccolo, an illegal firework, remains the biggest cause of FWRI (33 percent) along with kwitis (12 percent). Unknown fireworks (11 percent), luces (6 percent), and fountain (5 percent) were also culprits.

Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said the DOH will continue their monitoring of FWRI to prevent complications such as tetanus.

“We are reminding all those who have incurred some form of injury due to fireworks to please consult your nearest health facility for proper wound care and management,” he said in a statement.

Duque thanked President Rodrigo Duterte for the passage of Executive Order No. 28, an order confining fireworks use to community displays.

He also thanked local government units, non-government organizations, and other government agencies that supported the DOH's anti-firecrackers campaign.

The health secretary said they will team up with the Department of Local Government to help pass local ordinances that will enforce EO 28.

Duque added that they will also work with the Department of Trande and Industry to regulate "the manufacture and sale of firecrackers and in providing alternative livelihood for the firecracker industry."

“Together with other authorities of the government, we shall intensify our drive against fireworks-related injuries until we achieve our target of zero casualty,” he said. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News