by Dilanthi Jayamanne
The Colombo National Hospital (CNH) reported a marginal increase in the number of injuries that occurred during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year celebrations this year. Deputy Director, CNH (Accident and Orthopaedic Services), Dr. Anil Jasinghe said yesterday that 732 patients had received treatment at the CNH from April 12 to April 14 owing to new year celebrations.

Last year there were 718 patients who received treatment during this period, he pointed out claiming that there had been a marginal increase in the number of New year casualties this year.

Last year there were 240 patients admitted to the CNH following new year revelries. The number of admissions increased to 241 this year, he said.

Dr. Jasinghe pointed out that there had been only one fire cracker victim admitted to the hospital. "It‘s quite remarkable," he claimed pointing out that last year there had been four fire cracker victims who receive treatment from the CNH. "The media and Health Ministry campaigns have paid off," he pointed out attributing this major decrease also to the maturity of people.

He pointed out that the incident at Gas Works Street a few months ago also may have had an impact on the mentality of the people.

A store house filled with fire crackers exploded in Gas Works Street killing several people and causing extensive damage to the buildings surrounding it.

There has also been a decline in road traffic accidents. Last year there were 198 road traffic accidents during these three days, whilst this year there have been 170 road accidents.

He claimed that last year there had been 10 deaths which had occurred within the span of these three days. Five of them had been due to road accidents but this year there have been 18 deaths during the height of the new year celebrations and nine of them have been due to road accidents.

The victims of violence have also decreased during this year. Last year there were 125 victims of new year violence but this year there are only 90. He claimed that most of them have been due to assaults.

The other new year casualities had occurred owing to domestic accidents and falls during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year sports activities.

Sources of the Jaffna Teaching Hospital claimed that there had been no remarkable incidents which had occurred during the New Year. "There was only one death on the night of April 14 where an object had been thrown causing an explosion which led to one death."

"The New Year celebrations were better than last year because there was no curfew and the people were more free to move about," they added pointing out that the Hindu population in Jaffna had celebrated the new year without any unwanted incidents.

The Administrative Officer of the Anuradhapura Base Hospital when contacted claimed that he was not authorised to speak to the press while the Medical Superintendent whom he claimed was the only authorised person to speak to the press was not available for comment.