1 more firecracker injury reported
The Department of Health (DOH) has reported one young boy hurt by firecracker, bringing to five the total number of fireworks-related injuries (FWRIs) as of 6 a.m. yesterday.
The DOH Epidemiology Bureau said data from the different sentinel sites nationwide showed a 71 percent drop so far in the number of FWRIs compared to last year.
This also translates to 76 percent lower than the fiveA year average, the DOH said.
The Aksyon: Paputok Injury Reduction 2017 report indicated no case of stray bullet injury and firecracker ingestion as of yesterday. All five cases were males,
aged 11 months to 12 years. Four of them were active users and suffered hand injuries with no amputation needed. Their injuries were blamed on piccolo, an illegal firework.
The National Capital Region (NCR) accounted for four FWRI cases and one from Bicol region.
DOH officials are aiming for a 50 percent reduction in the number of FWRI this year as the government imposed a ban on the use of firecrackers nationwide.
Instead of playing with firecrackers, the public is encouraged to join the community fireworks display, which is much safer because handled by professionals.
Although not included in the DOH official report yet, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) of Bulacan tallied four boys injured by firecrackers as of yesterday morning.
It said an unidentified boy was injured Thursday by an exploding “five star” in Guiguinto town and two, also unidentified, injured by piccolo on Friday.
On Saturday, it recorded that Pocholo Panganiban, 10, was hurt by an exploding piccolo outside his residence in Barangay Santa Monica, Hagonoy town.
Joy Gomez, the provincial public health officer, told The STAR that they would be using a daily fireworks-related injuries report until Jan. 5 in their “Iwas paputok, community fireworks ang patok” campaign.
Jerry Caguingin of the Provincial Cooperative and Enterprise Development Office said the Pyrotechnic Regulatory Board of Bulacan is promoting “Ingat Paputok” instead of the DOH’s “Iwas Paputok” campaign. Bulacan is known as the firecracker and pyrotechnic capital of the country.