Firecracker-related injuries: 7 in Central Visayas, 2 in Cebu

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The firecracker-related injuries recorded in Central Visayas and in Cebu City during New Year’s celebration is slightly higher compared to that of the Christmas celebrations a week earlier.

Based on the records of the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) and the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC), the nine firecracker injuries reported from Thursday evening, December 31, 2020, to Friday morning, January 1, 2021, is one person higher than the recorded injuries from the night of December 24  to early morning of December 25.

During the Christmas celebrations, the DOH-7 only recorded a total of eight firecracker-related injuries in the region.

Read: DOH records 50 firework-related injuries, but notes 85% drop compared last year

The Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) recorded only seven firecracker related injuries recorded in provincial hospitals with two from the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, one from the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital, two from the Lapu-Lapu City Hospital, and another two at the Calape Mother and Child Hospital.

All of these cases are caused by mishandled firecrackers. No injuries by ingestion and by stray bullets were reported as of 9 a.m. on January 1, 2021.

As for Cebu City, it broke its zero injuries last Christmas 2020 with two firecracker injuries on New Year 2021.

Doctor Paulo Fabian, the on-duty physician of the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC), said that the two individuals were both male and aged above 60-years-old.

One of the patients is from Barangay Duljo while the other was from an unidentified barangay.

Fabian noted that one of the patients was injured when he picked up a random firecracker on the street, thinking it failed to blow up. But when he picked it up, the firecracker exploded.

Though the injuries were minor, Fabian urged the public not to touch firecrackers that have not been lighted on the streets as this could still explode and injure them.

“Ayaw nalang punita ang mga pabuto nga inyo makit-an kay wala ta kahibaw mobuto na nuon na sa inyong kamot,” said Fabian.

(Just don’t pick up firecrackers that you see on the streets because it might explode in your hand.)

Meanwhile, four individuals were brought to the Lapu-Lapu City Hospital (LLCH) for firecracker-related injuries.

Read: Firecrackers injure minor, 3 men in Lapu-Lapu during New Year

This was confirmed by Roberto Obapay, head nurse of the LLCH. He said that one of the four is a 14-year-old boy who acquired a laceration wound on his right cheek after a candy bomb exploded on his face.

/bmjo