Firecracker blast victims reach 44

MANILA, Philippines - The number of persons injured by firecracker explosions since Dec. 22 has jumped to 44, the Department of Health (DOH) reported yesterday.

Among the newest casualties is a 22-year-old man from Compostela Valley, one of the provinces devastated by typhoon “Pablo.” Based on the DOH’s Injury Registry, the victim “lost his right thumb, index and middle finger when he picked up a Super Lolo” that exploded in his hand.

The victim is one of the 44 injuries from firecracker blasts reported to the DOH from 6 a.m. of Dec. 22 up to 6 a.m. yesterday. Thirty-two of them were injured on Christmas Eve, the DOH said.

The registry showed that the 44 cases are “the same number compared to the previous five-year average” from 2007 to 2011, but the figure is one more than the 43 cases recorded in the morning of Christmas Day last year.

“Most cases were from the National Capital Region with 14 (32 percent), followed by Western Visayas with eight (18 percent) cases and Zamboanga Peninsula with five (11 percent) cases,” according to the registry, prepared by the DOH’s National Epidemiology Center.

There were no stray bullet or watusi (dancing firecracker) ingestion cases monitored by the DOH through its 50 sentinel hospitals across the country.

Thirty-five of the cases were males, with ages ranging from four to 58, the median age being 13, the DOH said. Fourteen or 32 percent of the cases were children 10 years old and below. The DOH said 24 or 55 percent of the patients “were active users.”

Two of the patients required amputation while eight sustained eye injuries. Eighteen of the cases were caused by piccolo, a firecracker intended for children. Four percent of the victims were under the influence of alcohol.

DOH Assistant Secretary Dr. Eric Tayag reiterated the agency’s calls for the public to use alternative noise-making devices to celebrate the Yuletide season.

Tayag also urged parents not to allow their children to use firecrackers, including the seemingly safe piccolo, which looks like match.

Children accounted for almost half of the 987 firecracker-related injuries recorded by the DOH from Dec. 21, 2011 to Jan. 5, 2012 and they mostly used piccolo, which is banned in the country.