'I haven't stopped coughing for THREE DAYS': Hospitals full as smog blanket silently shortens lives, say doctors

  • Doctors say patient numbers have more than tripled since pollution levels spiked
  • Levels of PM2.5 topped 500 this week, at one point going over 1,000
  • Levels 301 - 500 are  'hazardous', anything over 500 is beyond the index 
  • See more news from India at www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome 

In the emergency ward of a Delhi hospital, men and women gasp for breath as they wait to be treated for symptoms triggered by the choking blanket of smog that descended on the Indian capital this week.

Doctors at the government-run Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute say patient numbers have more than tripled since pollution levels spiked amid a change in weather conditions and the annual post-harvest burning of crop stubble in surrounding areas.

Shopkeeper Manoj Khati said he initially dismissed his heaving cough but it grew gradually worse and he has now been diagnosed with chronic bronchitis.

New Delhi emergency ward doctor Mansi Verma said his hospital had seen a huge spike in patients suffering from respiratory problems

New Delhi emergency ward doctor Mansi Verma said his hospital had seen a huge spike in patients suffering from respiratory problems

'For three days I haven't stopped coughing, I felt as though I would die,' the 46-year-old told AFP as he waited to undergo further tests.

Levels of PM2.5 - the fine pollution particles linked to higher rates of chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and heart disease - regularly topped 500 this week, at one point going over 1,000.

Levels between 301 and 500 are classified as 'hazardous', while anything over 500 is beyond the official index.

Levels of PM2.5 - the fine particles linked to higher rates of chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and heart disease - regularly topped 500 in Delhi this week, at one point going over 1,000

Levels of PM2.5 - the fine particles linked to higher rates of chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and heart disease - regularly topped 500 in Delhi this week, at one point going over 1,000

The World Health Organization's guidelines say 25 is the maximum level of PM2.5 anyone can safely be exposed to over a 24-hour period.

Emergency ward doctor Mansi Verma said the hospital had seen a huge spike in patients suffering from respiratory problems.

They are treated with steam inhalation or using nebuliser machines, which provide immediate relief by administering drugs directly to the airways.

'Beginning this week, we are seeing between 250-300 patients, more than three times the usual,' Verma told AFP.

'Most of them suffer from intense coughing and inflammation of the respiratory tract.'

Slow killer

Despite the rise in emergency cases Arvind Kumar, a respiratory diseases specialist at the private Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi, said many of the worst health effects would not be seen for years to come.

'Pollution kills you slowly,' he said.

Delhi is now the world's most polluted capital according to a World Health Organization survey conducted in 2014, with levels regularly exceeding those in Beijing

Delhi is now the world's most polluted capital according to a World Health Organization survey conducted in 2014, with levels regularly exceeding those in Beijing

'Whatever toxins levels we are exposed to today, suppose it continued for 10 days, this would have shortened the life of each one of us by several days or several weeks.

'But that effect will be noticed many, many years later, so it's not an immediate killer. And that's why its potential lethal value is not immediately appreciated, but nonetheless, it's a lethal killer.'

Delhi is now the world's most polluted capital according to a World Health Organization survey conducted in 2014, with levels regularly exceeding those in Beijing.

Large swathes of north India and Pakistan see a spike in pollution at the onset of winter due to crop burning and the fact that cooler air traps particulates close to the ground, preventing them from dispersing -- a phenomenon known as inversion.

A thick blanket of smog engulfed India's national capital

A thick blanket of smog engulfed India's national capital

In Delhi, local industry, coal-fired power plants and a growing number of cars on the roads have added to the crisis.

In response, authorities have temporarily closed all schools in the city and announced restrictions on all private cars - an estimated 3 million - from Monday.

But with current levels of pollution, Kumar said, he would not recommend living in the city at all.

'If you worry about your health, you want to have a healthy life... then with the current levels of pollution, I would say Delhi is not a place to live,' he said.

: Low visibility due to smog at Lodhi road in New Delhi, India

: Low visibility due to smog at Lodhi road in New Delhi, India

 

Brace for breathless days next week too 

By Baishali Adak

Pollution levels continued to climb the graph on Sunday in Delhi as Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 levels reached 390 ug/m3 at 9 am as opposed to the 239 ug/m3 it had fallen to at 12 pm on November 11.

Scientists attributed this to local weather phenomenon, more specifically, a dip in temperature leading to lowering of the mixing height at which pollutants are unable to disperse.

In more worrying news for Delhiites, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, under the ministry of Earth sciences, has forecast that air quality may dip heavily around November 16-17 when the Westerly disturbance, an extra-tropical storm originating in the Mediterranean region that brings winter rain to north India, would withdraw.

Schoolchildren wear masks as they walk to school amid heavy smog in New Delhi

Schoolchildren wear masks as they walk to school amid heavy smog in New Delhi

With rains - that help precipitate dust particles and gaseous pollutants in the air - gone, it would spell a bad omen on the city.

Senior scientist Gufran Beig, project director of the System of Air Quality And Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) at IITM, said, 'This (withdrawal of Western disturbance) is likely to be accompanied by addition of moisture in Delhi's air and a cold atmosphere, which may result in increase in pollution levels.'

'However, quantification of pollution level is possible only on November 14 as current SAFAR forecast model has capability to predict levels only three-four days in advance,' he said.

At the same time, he clarified that the Western disturbance induced increase in pollution level will certainly be smaller in magnitude than what was witnessed on November 8 when PM 2.5 levels shot up to 640 ug/m3, creating a super emergency situation in the national Capital.

IITM has explained the extreme levels of pollution in Delhi witnessed last week to a dust storm in the Gulf region and stubble burning across Punjab and Haryana

IITM has explained the extreme levels of pollution in Delhi witnessed last week to a dust storm in the Gulf region and stubble burning across Punjab and Haryana

Dr Beig said pollution control measures under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) - like halting all construction activity and restricting private vehicles by hiking parking fees - resulted in offsetting at least 15-20 per cent of the pollution in the city. 

'These levels will fall further up to 200-210ìg/m3 till November 13 and remain in same range until November 15, which is close to background concentration range for November in Delhi,' he said.

IITM has explained the extreme levels of pollution in Delhi witnessed last week to a dust storm in the Gulf region and stubble burning across Punjab and Haryana.

Senior scientists elaborated that the large multi-day dust storm that emerged in Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in the last week of October 2017, and continuing up to November 3-4, travelled to India and affected the larger region of NCR, including Delhi.

A woman wears a mask to protect herself from heavy smog and air pollution, in New Delhi

A woman wears a mask to protect herself from heavy smog and air pollution, in New Delhi

Plus, at least 40 lakh hectares of paddy/rice crop residue burning across the agricultural states of Punjab and Haryana in entire October also brought heavy amounts of smoke to Delhi.

The political leaderships here have failed to implement the National Green Tribunal's ban on crop burning as Mail Today reported on November 6.

After the common PR variety of rice crop residue was burnt throughout October, the residue of the Basmati variety of rice was then set on fire in first week of November.