These Diwali celebrations took a tragic turn for a 12-year-old boy from Hisar, Haryana, who suffered serious eye injuries in a fireworks accident and is currently undergoing treatment at PGIMER’s Advanced Eye Centre.

Similarly, on Diwali night, nearly 60 patients were admitted to Tricity hospitals for eye injuries and more than 120 people received burn treatment.

Nirmal Singh, a distressed father from Hisar, shared the heartbreaking ordeal his family faced after his 12-year-old son suffered a serious eye injury.

“Around 18:00 on Thursday evening, children were bursting crackers in the neighborhood. Someone placed a firecracker inside a glass bottle, which exploded and caused serious damage to my son’s cornea,” said Nirmal.

Doctors at PGIMER’s Advanced Eye Center in Chandigarh performed emergency surgery and although the prognosis is promising, the family faces a long road to recovery.

“I want these crackers to be strictly banned. “They can lead to serious consequences,” he added, calling for more action to prevent such incidents.

A similar tragedy struck Satish Kumar’s family in Bijnaur, Uttar Pradesh. While his 5-year-old son, studying in UKG class, was injured while bursting crackers, the child’s eyesight was seriously impaired. The child was brought to PGIMER for treatment.

Satish said sadly, “The vision in his eye has almost disappeared,” and shared that doctors performed surgery but the result remained uncertain.

In anticipation of Diwali-related injuries, PGIMER’s Advanced Eye Center activated emergency protocols from October 30 to November 2, ensuring that a full medical team specializing in retina, cornea, glaucoma and oculoplasty is ready to deal with fracture injuries. A team of at least six doctors, including one consultant, 4-5 assistants and senior assistants, and other paramedical staff were appointed.

During this period, 21 patients were treated for eye injuries; 12 of them were children under the age of 14, including a three-year-old girl. PGIMER also handled five cases of severe burns, including an 18-month-old boy with 30% burns and a 16-year-old girl with 50-55% burns.

Statistics show that 57% of cracker-related eye injury patients are children, with the youngest cases being bystanders or observers. In 2023, 23 cases of eye injury were reported in 48 hours, and in 2022, 28 cases of eye injury were reported.

Diwali-related injuries were reported across the district, including Chandigarh’s GMCH-32 and GMSH-16, which jointly handled dozens of burn and eye injury cases.

Eight cases of eye injuries and 20 cases of burn injuries were reported at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32. While 2 patients with eye injuries were hospitalized, 6 patients were discharged, 19 patients were discharged due to burns, and 1 patient was referred to PGIMER.

At Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16, there were 53 burn cases and 27 eye injuries. Manimajra Civil Hospital attended to 24 burn injuries and four eye injuries; Sector 22 Civil Hospital recorded 12 burn injuries and Sector 45 Civil Hospital reported 39 burn injuries and three eye injuries.

The Phase 6 civil hospital in Mohali reported a total of 15 cases of minor burns, including nine men, five children and one woman. As many as 33 cases of minor burns were also reported at the civil hospital in Sector 6 in Panchkula.