by Himangi Jayasundere
A fifteen yearold Buddhist monk was among 16 fire crackers victims brought in for treatment to the Accident Service of the Colombo National Hospital on New Years Eve.

The overall number of New Year casualties received at the Accident Service increased by 34% this year as compared to last year, Director of the Accident Service, Dr.Anil Jasinghe said.

A large number of the injured brought to hospital between midnight December 30 and 6.00 am on January 1 received treatment for miscellaneous injuries varying from home, occupational and sports injuries to burns, animal bites and attempted suicide.

However among the main categories of injuries, those caused by road accidents rated the highest while those injuries caused in violence related incidents and fire cracker victims rated second and third.

While the overall number of injured persons brought to hospital during this period rose from 305 in 2001 to 411 in 2002, the number of those injured due to road accidents, violent incidents and fire cracker injuries increased only marginally from 97, 66 and 12 last year to 93, 64 and 16.

Even after 6.00 am this morning we received two casualities, Dr.Jasinghe said adding " "we will definitely get more tonight".

By mid afteroon yesterday the total number of fire cracker victims brought hospital totalled 22.

Among those injured by fire crackers six including the young monk who suffered injuries to his hand were admitted to hospital while the others were treated at the OPD. Eleven out of the sixteen victims suffered injuries to their hands, while four have been injured on the face and one on the leg.

A high number of casualties were received between midnight December 31 and 6.00 am January 1. The total number of injured brought to the Accident Service during this period was 94, 21 of them were injured in traffic accidents, 18 in incidents of violence and 14 were fire cracker victims.