Doctors Warn Parents to Supervise Kids Fireworks Before Lent Festival
Doctors in Khon Kaen are warning parents to closely supervise children handling fireworks in the weeks before the end of Buddhist Lent after a rise in severe hand injuries from explosions. They advise immediate first aid—applying pressure with a clean cloth, avoiding tight bandages—and rushing the child to hospital while keeping any severed parts on ice. Each year about eight to ten children are injured, with the youngest victim just two years old, and many injuries cannot be reattached despite modern treatment.
Doctors warn parents to supervise children playing with fireworks before the Buddhist Lent festival after multiple cases of severe hand injuries caused by explosions. They stress that the first response is to stay calm, apply direct pressure with a clean cloth to stop bleeding—without wrapping too tightly—and then get the child to a hospital as quickly as possible or call 1669. Any severed part should be placed on ice and brought with the child, as modern techniques may allow reattachment. Dr. Tanit Fuajeerien of Khon Kaen Hospital’s orthopedic unit and hand‑surgery expert Dr. Phanumart Moennoy said that each year eight to ten children suffer such injuries, the youngest being only two years old, and that in many cases the damage is too severe for successful reattachment even with specialist care.
