Almost all agree that the number of children who need medical attention as a direct result of the Capital’s polluted air is three times as much in the last decade. No less than three thousand children and infants die every year in Delhi because of pollution.
Link to the article on Mail India Today.
“ The worsening air pollution in the Capital has become the primary killer of infants and is slowing poisoning them with every passing day. Not only is the toxic air responsible for the various respiratory diseases that infants are developing, but it is also shortening their life span. The gains of the introduction of CNG in 2000 have been lost. We are heading for dark days if policy- makers fail to wake up to the growing environmental health hazard. The new Euro- IV technology, which is the latest we have for cars, is still 10 years behind the technology being used in the US and Europe,” CSE Executive Director Anumita Roychowdhury told Mail Today. Recent air quality studies conducted by the Centre of Science and Environment (CSE) have said Delhi is the most polluted city in the world.
“ We have encountered a faceless enemy, but it is as dangerous and lethal as it gets. Pollutants like PM10, PM2.5, SO2 and NO2 mixed with smog and other dust particles have increased by over 300 per cent in a decade, and are destroying Delhi’s atmosphere. Children are the most vulnerable, especially infants under the age of two,” said veteran pediatrician and Nephron Clinics Chairman Sanjeev Bagai. He treats about 50 infants every day for respiratory diseases and conditions directly attributable to air pollution. The lowest figure of daily infant patients quoted by a range of doctors Mail Today contacted was 25.
Prof. Randeep Guleria, head of the Department of Pulmonary Medicine at AIIMS, said Delhiites are facing breathing problems they never had and say their problem is now prolonged.
“ Patients who have an underlined chronic respiratory disease like asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) are now experiencing a worsening of their respiratory status with coughing, breathlessness,” Guleria said. According to the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, Delhi’s concentration of particulate matters exceeds national standards as well as WHO guidelines.
Most of these doctors feel quite helpless. “ In the last decade, from about 10 cases a day the number has increased to over 25, especially in the age group of under two years, most of whom have bronchial and respiratory disorders,” said Dr Naresh Bhatia, consultant pediatrician at Max Hospitals.
Dr Bagai said that the inordinate amount of time he must devote to children with respiratory trouble has begun to take a toll on the time he can give to others.
As per the CSE, the most widely monitored pollutants in India are particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), and, on a limited scale, carbon monoxide. Particulate matter has gone up by 75 per cent in the last five years, CSE has said. The monitoring station at R. K. Puram recorded 985 micrograms per cubic metre on December 16– the highest ever recorded. Winter is when cold air above the city’s lower warm layers keeps it all in like a giant lid, reducing the city into one big pollution zone.
“ The ever- increasing numbers of diesel- guzzling passenger cars and trucks plying unregulated on the city's roads are largely to blame for the situation. As I had earlier told Mail Today that conventional pollution is not just confined to heavy traffic. Fuel pumps also contribute significantly to the toxicity. The evaporative emissions at these pumps release a large amount of pollutants in the atmosphere. None of the pumps have a mechanism called the Vapour Recovery System (VRS) like in Western countries.
If we have to survive in a healthy atmosphere, VRS have to be installed immediately,” Anumita added.
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