CEBU CITY, Philippines — The start of a new decade here kicked off with fewer people hurt due to firecrackers.
As of midnight, January 1, 2020, only one boy who was injured from a firecracker blast was brought to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.
According to the security personnel at the hospital’s emergency section, the boy was brought in around 5 p.m. of December 31, 2019 with blast burns just above his right eye.
The boy was sent home early evening.
Four other minors were also rushed to the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) for firecracker-related injuries. The latest victim was a girl from Barangay Labangon, who also sustained blast burns.
Unlike in the past two years, no victim of stray bullets were brought to the two government hospitals in Cebu City.
Last Christmas, the Department of Health in Central Visayas already noted a significant drop in the number of firecracker-related injuries with just five persons involved.
The number of injuries during Christmas was less by almost half compared to 2018, which recorded 11 injuries.
On January 1, 2019, Cebu province also recorded 40 firecracker related injuries and three victims of stray bullets. /bmjo