MANILA, Philippines — A 20-year-old girl suddenly felt her right leg become hot as she walked down the street. Suspecting that something was wrong, she checked her leg and was alarmed to see that a stray bullet was lodged inside her skin without her even knowing where the bullet came from.

At 2 a.m. on December 26, the girl sought medical consultation at the Tondo Medical Center. Doctors cleaned her wounds and submitted her leg for an X-ray after she was injected with anti-tetanus vaccine. Doctors found that the bullet was still lodged inside the muscles of her leg and suggested a surgical procedure to remove it. However, the girl refused to be admitted at the hospital.

Emergency room head Dr. Myrna T. Rivera said they advised the patient to be admitted at the hospital but the latter refused.

Rivera said there are now a total of 10 cases of fireworks-related injuries admitted at the Tondo Medical Center; nine of them were fireworks-related injuries, four due to piccolo, one due to five star, two due to “bawang,” one due to Luces, one from an unknown firecracker and one stray bullet.

Department of Health (DoH) Assistant Secretary Dr. Eric Tayag said they are alarmed over the sharp increase of fireworks-related injuries which has now reached 173 according to the December 29 “Aksyon Paputok Injury Reduction” surveillance update of the DoH. He said the number is now only 18 percent lower than the number of injuries last year at 201 within the same period.

Out of the total figure, 163 are fireworks-related, two are firecracker ingestion cases, 26 eye-injuries and eight stray bullet cases.

Out of the 163 fireworks-related cases, 86 are children aged one to ten years. There were 105 active users and 11 of them suffered amputation.

There are now 93 piccolo-related injuries.

From Dec. 21-27, 2011, 141 firecracker injury cases were reported. Compared to previous years, Dec. 21, 2010 to Jan. 1, 2011 --- 794 cases; Dec. 21, 2009 to Jan. 1, 2010 – 597 cases; and Dec. 21, 2008 to Jan. 1, 2009 – 717 cases.

“We are alarmed over the piccolo cases. If piccolo is not present, we would have only 70 cases,” Tayag said.

At the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center, three-year-old Emma Joy was admitted the other day after licking the tip of a “Luces.”