MANILA, (PNA) — The Department of Health on Monday recorded 244 firecracker-related injuries two days before the New Year.
Assistant Health Secretary, Dr. Eric Tayag announced via Twitter that out of the 244 firecracker-related injuries, 238 were from actual firecrackers, most of which from piccolo.
Piccolo remains to be the firecracker notorious for causing most number of injuries every year. It is also in the list of illegal or banned firecrackers.
Tayag said that so far, only one firecracker ingestion has been recorded and five sustained wounds from stray bullets.
The DOH reported the first firecracker-related wound involved a nine-year old boy from Tondo, Manila who sustained injuries due to piccolo blast.
In 2012, there were only 188 firecracker-related injuries recorded in the same period, of that 185 were due to actual firecrackers one firecracker ingestion and two from stray bullets.
However, data from the Philippine National Police showed that firecracker injuries were only at 40 while stray-bullet injuries were now at 11.
The PNP has also implemented gun muzzle-taping for firearms since Dec. 28 while hospitals remain on Code while alert, which means hospital personnel should be ready for emergencies.
While there are still reports of some banned firecrackers being openly sold in some areas in Metro Manila, Tayag has appealed to them to reinforce measure to crack them down.