The Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, a Department of Health-run hospital in Bacolod City, is warning the public against the use of firecrackers during the holidays.
CLMMRH, in an advisory, said it is joining the annual campaign of the DOH in advocating against the use of firecrackers during the holiday season.
It added that the hospital is aiming to reduce firecracker-related injury cases through constant education and awareness.
Based on the DOH’s Fireworks Related Injury (FWRI) surveillance report, Western Visayas has recorded 47 blast injuries in 2019.
Dr. Julius M. Drilon, CLMMRH medical center chief, said: “We have to remind our kababayans regarding our tradition of greeting the New Year with revelries and a tradition of lighting firecrackers, fireworks and the likes. We have lost a lot of limbs and lives to the extreme because of this.”
In the past few years, the different agencies of the government in a combined effort have launched a tremendous campaign to discourage this practice, he said.
“Although we have seen a significant drop of firecracker injuries in the last two years, we are still preparing for this eventuality,” he said.
He appealed to the public to greet the New Year in a different manner. “With a pandemic, everything has changed. I hope our kababayans would realize that the unnecessary spending at this time would mean a tremendous financial impact on our pockets,” he said.
“Let us greet the new year with a new hope, new beginning, and a new normal in our daily lives,” he said.
Meanwhile, CLMMRH said it has prepared its facility that will cater to all blast injury patients in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental.
It said that the hospital has identified a blast room that will serve as an area for treating patients, adding it is equipped with supplies and medicines, life-saving machines, and enough manpower to accommodate more people.*