31/12/2023
The DOH would like to strongly appeal to all adults and caregivers supervising children during the Holiday season to exercise extreme vigilance and caution.
The DOH is calling on all adults and caregivers to become great examples to children by not lighting up firecrackers.
There is no excuse to lose a thumb, a finger, a hand or foot due to firecracker injuries. There is no excuse to suffer burns in any part of the body due to firecracker explosion.
Every time you light up a firecracker, any instance that you explode a firecracker, you risk your life and those around you.
If you see a child playing with firecrackers, act decisively and wisely. Immediately seize the firecrackers from them and put them away where they cannot get them again. Repeatedly tell them not to buy firecrackers. Educate them on the consequences of firecracker injuries.
The fun from lighting up firecrackers is as fleeting as the sparks of the firecrackers. Serious injuries and amputation caused by firecracker explosions have life-changing consequences. Exploding or lighting up firecrackers is an extreme gamble on one’s future.
Imagine the rest of a child’s life without hands, arms, legs, or injured body parts after losing them to fireworks. Not only is self-esteem drastically diminished, productivity at school and work will also be greatly affected.
Soon after the bloodstains have dried up, the wounds due to firecracker injuries heal slowly. But the most painful realization that a child has lost a finger or an eye and cannot function normally sets in.
The DOH encourages Filipinos young and old to have wholesome fun, while at the same time being extra-careful and extremely vigilant against firecrackers explosions, which also may cause fire, affecting communities.
Let us use safe merry-making instruments and alternative noise-makers such as “torotot,” car horns, or by playing loud music.
Mahalaga ang buhay. Huwag hayaang masayang ito dahil lamang sa paputok.
If you see a child or an adult being injured by firecracker explosions, the wounds must be immediately washed with clean running water for several minutes, until all visible dirt and gunpowder residue has been removed.
Immediately rush the injured person to the nearest health facility for proper medical attention.
Save a life, protect a limb: do not explode or light up firecrackers.
-DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH PHILIPPINES 🇵🇭 Dec 20 2014
