Death by Breath :Patients with serious Respiratory ailments Leave Delhi
Records investigated for Out Patient Departments (OPD) of Delhi’s leading hospitals show that after the Supreme Court order of 1998 led to public transport vehicles switching to the cleaner CNG fuel, the two main hospitals handling a bulk of respiratory ailments reported a clear dip in cases.
Like the RSPM curve, which this investigation mapped yesterday, the number of OPD cases at the Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute (VPCI) and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) hit a low a few years after that verdict.
VPCI: The number of OPD cases dipped from 51,694 in 2003-04 to 47,887 in 2006-07 and then started rising to reach an all-time high of 65,122 cases in 2013-14.
AIIMS: The trend is similar, from 10,296 OPD cases for respiratory ailments in 2005-06 to a low of 9,519 in 2007-08 and again, an all-time high of 37,669 in 2014-15.
To place that last figure in context, AIIMS started a separate respiratory department in 2013.
Admitting that these numbers are cause for serious alarm, Dr Randeep Guleria, head of respiratory medicine, AIIMS, told: “What is most worrying is that 10-15 years ago, when air pollution levels had come down, our average OPD attendance and admissions in respiratory medicine at AIIMS saw about a 20% decline. We seem to have lost out on our own achievements. As pollution levels have gone up, our public health success has been reversed.”
Dr Rahul Nagpal, paediatric chest specialist at Fortis VK, said, “I have lost count of the medical certificates I have written for schoolchildren this winter. As a doctor, I am often forced to advise holidays to patients because a change of environment with better air quality helps them improve faster.”
What’s needed, says Dr Guleria, is action at the policy level.
“The poor air quality has persisted for too long, and there is enough evidence of its link to health effects. It is time that we see some policy action to not only control this but also ensure that we hold on to any success we achieve this time,” he said.
Additional data accessed from AIIMS and VPCI also confirm that the the air we breathe is most dangerous around when the winter begins to set in from October to December. That’s when the cold air creates low pressure conditions that prevent pollutants in the air from dispersing, leading to episodes of smog and fog.
Dr Rajendra Prasad, director, VPCI, said that this is the time “when we see more of patients with chronic or long-term respiratory diseases like Asthma and Bronchitis having complications”.
Data from the institute shows that the number of patients admitted in its respiratory wards increased by 79% — from 2,160 cases in 2003-04 to 3,873 in 2013-14.
The doctors said that in very serious cases, they almost always remind the patient of the option to move out of Delhi.
Dr Arup Basu, director of chest medicine, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said that it’s not just respiratory diseases that are triggered by Delhi’s dirty air.
“There is a direct co-relation not only between pollutant levels and respiratory diseases, but also with cerebrovascular problems, blood pressure levels and even cardiac events,” Dr Basu said.
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Source:Indianexpress
