Ludhiana, October 31
Divali, a festival of lights brings joy and happiness for everybody, but at the same time, the bursting of crackers, an integral part of the celebrations, can also spell disaster if adequate precautions and preventive steps are not taken. A little carelessness on the part of parents can lead to serious injuries to the eyes, ear, nose and throat and other parts of the body.
Emphasising the need for utmost caution during Divali celebrations, Dr Satish Thomas, a trained paediatric ophthalmologist and strabismologist at Christian Medical College and Hospital here points out that while the festival brings in its wake a lot of light, sound and gaiety, children are at a greater risk of sustaining injuries, mostly due to cracker bursting. In the aftermath of festivities, some of the extremely painful sights have been witnessed in the past which could have been avoided with a little caution and proper handling.
He advised that children should not be allowed to burst crackers unsupervised by grown up people, uncontrolled flying firecrackers like ‘rockets’ should be avoided, crackers should always be burst in an open area, protective eye wear made of impact resistant polycarbonate or at least plastic should be worn as glass spectacles would do more damage than good.
“If, however, there is a case of injury and bleeding occurs from the eye, it should be covered with clean cloth, no food or even water should be taken until the injury is seen by the eye specialist as this will delay surgery, if needed. If only chemicals or the powder of the firecrackers go into the eye, without forceful injury, eyes should be washed liberally with lots of clean water. An eye specialist should be consulted as quickly as possible,” added Dr Thomas.
Dr Manish Munjal, ENT specialist at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital cautioned that bursting of crackers in congested areas could cause injuries like perforation in the ear drum which might become permanent and reduce the hearing power. It could also lead to discharge from the ear later on.
The victims could fracture bones behind the ear drum which might cause reduced hearing, necessitating reconstructive micro surgery. The high decibel cracker sound can damage the nerves of hearing with consequent abnormal sounds in the ear, hearing impairment and sometimes imbalance. In some cases, there could be nasal itching, sneezing or profuse watery discharge from the nose due to irritation by fumes arising from cracker bursts. Those vulnerable to nasal allergy were at a greater risk and there condition could worsen.
Other problems commonly faced by people during Divali, according to Dr Munjal, were irritation in the throat, repeated coughs with choking sensation and worsening of allergies, damage to the vital areas of neck, nose and ears caused by mechanical or burn injuries.
Advising that crackers of low intensity be used in open spaces and under supervision by adults, he said the rockets, whistles and other projectile crackers should be pointed towards the sky and not towards persons standing nearby. This should be the preferred method of celebrating this festive occasion.
The Burn Association, another body of doctors, in an overview made an appeal to the people to celebrate Divali in a safe and injury-free manner. In a meeting organised at BCM Senior Secondary School here today, a team of doctors, comprising Dr Sanjeev Uppal, Dr Ajay Shahi and Dr Kansal made a multi-media presentation to students, parents and teachers.
The comprehensive project demonstrated that how this festival of lights could be safely observed and provided tips to avoid injuries, emergency first aid and contact points in cases of serious injuries.
According to Dr Uppal, the tips were well taken by the students, who took a pledge for not bursting crackers after 10 pm, avoiding high intensity sound producing crackers and preferring fire crackers of decorative nature, spreading the message of love rather than the show of strength and helping make this drive as a strong campaign.
