The City Health Services Office (CHSO) disclosed there were no firecracker-related injuries documented in the city during the Christmas revelry and during the reckoning period that started last December 21, 2019.
City Health Officer Dr. Rowena Galpo said that as of press time, there are no firecracker-related injuries and incidents reported in the city’s barangays due to the cooperation of the residents and visitors to the city’s existing policy on the total ban on the sale and use of firecrackers during the Christmas and New Year revelries.
He said the city administration continued the implementation of the previous administration’s policy on the total ban on the sale and use of firecrackers during the Yuletide season thus health authorities are optimistic that the zero firecracker-related injuries could be replicated this year.
“We are keeping our fingers crossed we will replicate the zero firecracker-related injuries during the Christmas and New Year revelries primarily because people are already aware of our existing policy on the total ban on the sale and use of firecrackers,” Galpo stressed.
The City Health Officer advised individuals wanting to join the community fireworks to ensure the said activity is supervised by experts to prevent the occurrence of untoward incidents posing a serious threat to the safety of those in the crowd and compromise the city government’s goal to replicate this year’s achievement of zero firecracker-related injuries in this celebration of the coming of the year 2020.
Earlier, the Regional Office of the Health Department launched the traditional Oplan Iwas Paputok as a reminder for the public to refrain from exploding firecrackers during the celebration of the Christmas and New Year but instead use other forms of creating noise to welcome the birth of Christ and the new year to prevent accidents.
It is an established national practice that health practitioners all over the country are on heightened alert from December 21 of the current year to January 5 of the succeeding year to document firecracker or pyrotechnic-related injuries brought about by the use of firecrackers and pyrotechnic materials during the Christmas and New Year revelries.
Galpo said that it took the previous administration of former Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan several years to strictly implement the city government’s policy on the total ban on the sale and use of firecrackers in the city before it achieved the zero firecracker-related injuries last year, thus, the need for residents and visitors alike to continue strictly adhering to the said policy so that the city will be able to replicate the same this year and the coming years.
She observed there has been a significant decline in the use of firecrackers during the Christmas and New Year revelries due to the prohibited sale of firecrackers in the city although there are still some enterprising traders who try to illegally vend said items to residents who still insist on using such prohibited items to celebrate the Yuletide season.
By Dexter A. See
File Photo by: ARMANDO M. BOLISLIS
