DOH Eastern Visayas notes 30% rise in firecracker-related injuries

TACLOBAN CITY, Jan. 6 (PNA) –Injuries from holiday revelry in Eastern Visayas posted a 30 percent increase this year as more people were hurt by igniting firecrackers and fireworks allowed by law.

Roderick Boyd Cerro, chief of the Department of Health (DOH) regional epidemiology and surveillance unit said number of cases has risen from 70 last year to 101 as of midnight of January 5.

Fingers of two children in this city were amputated. The two victims ignited lolo thunder and kwitis.

Unlike last year, there was no single victim of stray bullet. Most cases are minor blasts while some suffered eye injury.

Majority or 70 percent of cases were injured due to piccolo ignited by children below 11 years old. The youngest victims is one year old while the oldest is 62.

“Our concern was that more number of victims were injured by firecrackers and fireworks not banned by the government. It’s time to really check the quality of these products even if these are legal,” he said.

Of the 101 injuries, 37 were reported in Northern Samar, 26 in Eastern Samar, 25 in Leyte, 10 in Samar, and two in Biliran province.

“We believe that there were more victims in Northern Samar because power outages and other impacts of typhoon Nona disrupted our Iwas Paputok information drive. Disaster response has been the top priority,” Cerro said.

The government has launched its monitoring of Christmas and New Year revelries on December 16, 2015 and concluded on January 5, 2016. (PNA)
FPV/SARWELL Q. MENIANO