Doctors, civic authorities bat for safety

Mumbai: As the city prepares to celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, doctors have urged people to be careful while bursting firecrackers. They have issued an advisory stating the precautions to be taken while bursting firecrackers. The civic authorities are also trying their best to advocate precautionary measures via posters, websites, civic- and state- run hospitals and word-of-mouth.

Head of the ophthalmology department at J.J. Hospital, Dr Ragini Parekh, has issued an advisory stating the precautions to be taken while bursting firecrackers. “Do not burst crackers in your hands and if crackers are defused, do not hold them or bring them close to your body as there are chances of them bursting and damaging eyes or skin,” the advisory reads. It warns against digging pits and bursting firecrackers inside them as there are chances of the firecrackers bursting on the spot and harming person/s standing near them.

Dr T.P. Lahane, ophthalmologist, J.J. Hospital, told The Asian Age, “Since we are spreading awareness and working hard on issuing advisories, compared to last year, we are getting less cases related to burns and eye injuries.”

“The festival of lights unfortunately ends in tragedies. The emergency services of most hospitals report a rise in burn cases on these festive days. Last year, the casualty department of our hospital repor-ted above 100 burn injuries and 10 eye injuries on Diwali day alone,” he said.

Dr Sunil Keswani, secretary, trust-run National Burn Centre (NBC), said, “Women and kids suffer the most during Diwali celebrations and half of such instances can be prevented by simple precautions. These burn injuries can be disfiguring and sometimes life-threatening as well. Therefore, it is important to educate people about ways to prevent such untoward incidents.”

Children are advised to burst crackers under the supervision of elders to avoid burns, eye injuries and bursting of eardrums.