DOH records 141 firecracker-related injuries a day before New Year's eve
By Leilani S. Junio
MANILA, Dec. 31 (PNA) -- The Department of Health (DOH) reported Saturday that the total number of firecracker-related injuries is now 141 on the eve of New Year celebration.
DOH Secretary Dr. Paulyn Jean B. Rosell-Ubial said the number is in decreasing trend in comparison to last year's record.
This is 34 percent (or 73 cases) lower than the cases reported last year.
However, she said the data showed that 78 percent of the injuries were children who are 15 years old and below.
Piccolo, an illegal firecracker, is the top cause of injury.
In East Avenue Medical Center alone in Quezon City which she visited as part of the hospital rounds she was doing, majority of the 12 cases were due to piccolo.
The youngest patient (three-year old boy) was due to piccolo.
Piccolo had injured 78 people based on the reports submitted by 50 sentinel hospitals nationwide.
Meanwhile, it was noted that majority of the cases (52 percent) were from the National Capital Region (NCR) with 73 recorded injuries. Most of the firecracker-related injuries came from Manila, Quezon City, and Mandaluyong City.
The top 3 in the list was Manila with 31 cases; followed by QC with 21 cases and Mandaluyong with 5 cases.
Ubial said they will be sending letters to these Local Government Units (LGUs) to discuss how they can work together to decrease the trend of injuries.
She said that it the said cities will cooperate they can actually help a lot in bringing down the trend to lower level wherein there will be injuries that can be prevented.
She said the positive effect of decreasing the incidence can actually reduce cost spent in the health system as well as relief to other health staffs doing their duties even during holiday breaks because they need to respond to other health emergencies. (PNA)
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