BEIJING - China's leading eye hospital will have a strong team of medical workers on duty during Spring Festival, ready to treat fireworks-inflicted injuries that often accompany the most important Chinese holiday.

Beijing Tongren Hospital, famous for ophthalmic medicine and surgery,said it was preparing for a surge in the number of out-patients during the holiday, the only time when fireworks are allowed to be let off in Beijing's city proper.

"We will have 14 ophthalmologists at the emergency ward during the holiday week," the hospital said in a statement Monday.

Monday is an important day for the Chinese as it marks the start of a seven-day countdown to Chinese Lunar New Year.

Tongren Hospital has received 1,128 patients with fireworks-related injuries since Beijing removed its ban on fireworks during the festival in 2006. Nearly 30 percent of the patients are youngsters, the document said.

During last year's holiday week, the hospital treated 206 patients with firework-induced injuries, 178 of whom suffered eye injuries. The youngest was only two years old, said Dr. Lu Hai, deputy chief of the hospital's ophthalmic center.

Lu warned that people must buy quality fireworks from franchise outlets and protect children from potential danger.

This year, Lunar New Year's Eve falls on January 22, when the Chinese will celebrate by setting off billions of fireworks.

Beijing instituted a ban in 1993 hoping to reduce fireworks-related fatalities. But the unpopular ban was scrapped in 2005 amid a public outcry that the tradition should continue and the explosives again lit up the capital's night sky in 2006.