India Chokes

A public health emergency has been declared by doctors in Delhi as air quality in the world’s most polluted capital city plunged to levels likened to smoking at least 50 cigarettes in a single day. Residents were warned to avoid leaving their homes.

The Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, said the city was a “gas chamber”.  Primary schools will be shut on Wednesday and possibly longer if the poor conditions persist. Those who work outside – such as the city’s fleet of rickshaw pullers – are hardest hit. 

The Indian Medical Association said the country’s capital was suffering a health emergency and called for an upcoming half-marathon to be cancelled to avoid “disastrous health consequences”.
Airtel, the leading sponsor indicated that it may pull out of the event next year.

“Air pollution poses serious health risks and it is important that these concerns are addressed urgently and appropriately by the authorities for Airtel to continue associating with the event next year and beyond,” it said in a statement.

 The smog and airborne pollutants went beyond what instruments in the city could measure with some recording an Air Quality Index (AQI) maximum of 999. Most dangerous to health are concentrations of fine pollutants smaller than 2.5 micro-metres – tiny enough to evade the body’s natural filters and permeate the blood-brain barrier. These fine pollutants – called PM2.5 – can include carcinogenic chemicals such as lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury. Levels of PM2.5 in Delhi on Tuesday reached 710 micrograms per cubic metre, more than 11 times the World Health Organisation’s safe limit.

“It has terrible effects on every part of your body,” said Dr Arvind Kumar, the chest surgery chairman at Sir Ganga Ram hospital, who compared the 999 AQI level recorded in the RK Puram area to smoking 50 cigarettes in a day. “ICUs are full of pneumonia patients. Lots of my patients are coming with coughs today. They are breathless. It can precipitate an acute asthma attack and in the long run it will increase their risk of lung cancer,” he said.

The World Health Organisation in 2014 classed Delhi as the world’s most polluted capital, with air quality levels worse than Beijing. A 2015 study showedneighbouring states. But conditions worsen in winter months when slow winds and cool temperatures trap pollutants closer to the ground. Though Delhi gets most attention, toxic air afflicts the entire north Indian plain, including parts of Pakistan. A study last year found the holy city of Varanasi had among the worst air in the country.

 about half the Indian capital’s 4.4 million schoolchildren had compromised lung capacity and would never totally recover. Delhi’s air quality is extremely poor for most of the year due to road dust, open fires, vehicle exhaust fumes, industrial emissions and the burning of crop residues in

2.5 million Indians die each year from pollution, the highest number in the world.