Government hospitals on white alert for firecracker injuries

With New Year’s Eve just a few days away, government hospitals across the country are on code white alert for possible firework-related injuries.

According to Chino Gaston’s “24 Oras” report on Tuesday, code white alert means that emergency services are on standby 24/7, and doctors and nurses are on call for duty.

The East Avenue Medical Center is preparing medical equipment, medicines, and disinfectant for firecracker-related injury treatment at the emergency ward.

“As of yesterday, wala pa kaming naitatala na fireworks-related injury. Based doon sa mga nakaraang taon mga ganitong panahon mayroon nang naitala na kaso,” said Dr. John Paul Ner, a medical specialist 2 at East Avenue Medical Center.

Five additional cases of fireworks-related injuries were recorded in the country which brought the total number to 25, the Department of Health (DOH) said Tuesday.

DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said the caseload of firecracker-related injuries so far was 14% higher than the 22 cases reported during the same period in 2021.

The top fireworks involved in injuries were the boga with eight related injuries, followed by whistle bomb with four, kwitis with three, and 5-star with two. These cases were recorded from December 21 to 27.

“Last year, at this same time period we had 22 cases so our cases right now are 14% higher than that of last year,” Vergeire said.

The DOH earlier urged the public to continue practicing safer celebrations of New Year by using alternative ways to create loud noises.

“This is a good indicator of practicing safer new years away from physical injuries and emergencies,” the DOH said. — Richa Noriega/DVM, GMA Integrated News