Published Monday, 26 October 2009
Consultant Alastair Brown, who operated on the boy from Dromore last year, has said it was one of the worst firework injuries he had ever treated
The boy who is making good progress, is now back at school and learning to write again after being fitted with a prosthetic hand last May.
"This was a very significant injury and we were able to salvage his thumb which gave him some use of the hand", Consultant Brown told UTV.
"He's actually done remarkably well considering that he is a young child, he is coping well."
"However he does have significant disability due to this. Purely a split second use of an improvised firework caused this disability to him which will follow him for the rest of his life," he added.
Earlier this month, Alastair Brown treated another firework injury after a six-year-old boy picked up a firework in a park near his home.
The firework exploded, severing part of his thumb and two fingers.
"Unfortunately this happened again this year, despite the messages last year, despite the graphic images last year, this has happened again. Similarly a misuse of a firework has led to a devastating injury of a young child's hand," Alastair Brown said.
The police seized 5,500 fireworks in 2008.
Last week, they found 1.5 tonnes of illegal fireworks in a factory in Newry.
As Halloween approaches, Superintendent Nigel Grimshaw said these figures show that the message is not hitting home.
"Over this last number of weeks we have recovered significant amounts, up to £20,000 worth in Newry last week, the week before that £ 20,000 worth in Armagh and indeed we seized 2000 illegal fireworks in Fermanagh", he told UTV.
"Clearly the message is not getting through. Who is it not getting through to? Criminals. It is criminals who are making money out of this and they have no regard to the safety of the public."