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[av_heading heading=’Drive vs ’cracker use starts Dec. 21 ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MAE SINGUAY
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BACOLOD City – Health officials across the country will start the campaign against the use of firecrackers on Dec. 21.
The Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) is joining the Department of Health’s (DOH) Iwas Paputok drive, which runs through Jan. 5, 2017, said Dr. Julius Drilon, chief of hospital.
Drilon said the Health department is engaging with other agencies, including the Bureau of Fire Protection, Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the Office of the President.
Since 2010 the CLMMRH has been helping the DOH track data on firecracker-related injuries and fatalities in Negros Occidental.
Drilon hopes there will be fewer victims this year. From Dec. 21, 2015 to Jan. 5, 2016, there were only around nine injuries and zero casualties in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental, he said.
During the same period, the DOH recorded 943 injuries nationwide.
While a 7-percent increase was noted from December 2014 to January 2015, firecracker-related injuries across the country reduced 24 percent from 2010 to Jan. 5, 2016, Drilon said. He credited the DOH’s anti-firecrackers drive.
Drilon urged barangay officials to have fireworks displays in their villages instead.
He said the firecracker industry will soon be regulated — guidelines on production will be set, among others — to prevent the rise of firecracker injuries but not stopped since many livelihoods will be affected./PN
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