10-month-old baby suffers eye injury from kwitis

MANILA, Philippines —  A 10-month-old boy from the National Capital Region (NCR), who suffered eye injury, was among the 114 new cases of firework-related injuries (FWRIs) reported by the Department of Health (DOH) yesterday.

“The youngest on record is now a 10-month-old baby whose right eye was injured by the legal kwitis, lit by someone else at home,” the agency added.

The oldest FWRI victim on record, on the other hand, is a 77-year-old male from Ilocos region, who sustained injury from a legal whistle bomb also lit by a housemate, according to the DOH.

“Household use of fireworks is a risk not only to yourself, but also to your family. Our data further strengthens this observation,” it said.

The DOH said the additional cases pushed to 557 the total number of FWRIs recorded nationwide during the 2023-2024 holiday season – 555 due to fireworks, one due to watusi ingestion and one due to stray bullet.

The bulk of the FWRIs came from the NCR with 306, followed by Ilocos with 55, Central Luzon with 42 and Calabarzon with 39.

Almost all or 98.86 percent of the cases are males while 97 percent of these new cases occurred at home and on the streets.

More than half or 52 percent of cases were due to legal fireworks. About nine percent of individuals were hospitalized due to their injuries.

The DOH noted that 97 percent of FWRIs happened at home and in the streets, mostly by males with active involvement.

It said that it is still getting reports of FWRIs even though its surveillance for this holiday season is done.

It added that it would use the surveillance report to strongly push for measures meant for Christmas 2024 and New Year 2025.

Illegal fireworks caused four out of every 10 cases, while legal fireworks caused more injuries, according to the health department.

Meanwhile, FWRIs in Bulacan have risen to 141 for the Dec. 21-Jan. 2 period, according to the provincial disaster risk reduction and management (PDRRM) office.

PDRRM officer Manuel Lukban Jr. said that based on the Bulacan FWRI surveillance report, a total of 106 of the victims were males and 35 were females, while 65 of them were injured actively and 76 were injured passively.

The most number of victims belong to the 10-19 age group, followed by 33 from those aged less than 10 years old, 29 from the 20-29 age group, 19 from the 30-39 age group, 12 from the 40-49 age group, eight from the 50-59 age group and five from the above 60 age group.

A total of 124 victims suffered blast injuries without amputations, 12 suffered eye injuries, three had multiple injuries (blast without amputation and with eye injuries and two suffered blast injuries that needed amputations).

The fireworks products that caused most of the FWRIs were sky rocket (kwitis) with 40 victims, followed by 5-star with 25, luces with 17, fountain with 15, pla-pla with 10, boga with five and bawang and kwiton with three each.

There were two victims each for pailaw, atomic bomb, giant whistle bomb, Judas’ belt, piccolo, super lolo, whistle device,  unknown firecracker and one each for baby rocket, Goodbye Philippines and poppop while four were for other types of firecrackers.

In Negros Occidental, the number of FWRI had increased to 89 as of yesterday, according to reports of the provincial health office. – Ramon Efren Lazaro, Gilbert Bayoran