“Shame Campaign” Prepared By DOH To Decrease Firecracker Casualties During New Year Celebration
A campaign to reduce the number of firecracker casualties this year were already prepared by the Department of Health (DOH).
A shame campaign will be launch by the health department against the local chief executives who failed to reduce the increasing numbers of firecracker victims in their area. The health agency aims to decrease the number of casualties during Christmas and New Year season.
On Monday (December 05, 2016), the public was urged by DOH to use an alternative noise making activities and community fireworks display during the celebration of New Year’s day to avoid firecracker-related injuries.
Firecracker casualties will be monitored by the health agency until the results of the monitoring revealed on January 05, 2017, according to the Health Secretary. The ‘shame campaign’ will name the local governments which contain the highest number of casualties during holiday seasons.
Hospitals will be also monitored by DOH through media event as a part of this campaign. The local executive was urged by Ubial to participate and to cooperate on the campaign that will start on December 06, 2016 up to January 05, 2016.
“Please do your part in this campaign to prevent injuries among children. We lose a lot in the costs of our healthcare system because of these useless causes of injuries,” said by Ubial quoted by Inquirer.
Parents were also advised to supervise and prohibit their children from using exploding firecrackers including “piccolo” to avoid accidents during the celebration of New Year’s day.
There are 932 casualties nationwide recorded last year from Dec. 21, 2015 to Jan. 5, 2016, which is 8 percent higher than the casualties of 2014. 920 out of 932 casualties were caused by firecrackers, 10 casualties were victims of stray bullets while the 2 others were firecracker ingestion.
A victim of “Goodbye Philippine” obtained the fatal injury using firecrackers, which resulted in death. 385 were victims of piccolo, 109 were due to unknown firecrackers, and 103 cases were victims of “Kwitis.”
The nationwide firecracker ban in the Philippines was postponed by President Rodrigo Duterte due to lack of preparations. The ban will be imposed next year as the president sign the executive order that will ban the use of firecracker in the country.