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The havoc of record pollution continues unabated in Delhi. Even today the air quality index i.e. AQI remained near 400. That means it was a very serious situation. This is a condition in which breathing becomes difficult, cough occurs, there is a risk of lung diseases, but the government says that they do not have concrete data to establish that there is any direct relationship between high levels of AQI and lung diseases. However, contrary to the government’s claims, the report of the Medical Journal of Advanced Research India says that due to bad air, the lung function is decreasing.
Not only this, The Lancet and ICMR report of 2019 “The India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative” states that about 18% of the total deaths in India in 2019 were due to air pollution. That means air pollution was also a reason for the death of about 16.70 lakh people. Whereas the report of State of Global Air Report 2024 is even further in which it has been claimed that 21 lakh people are dying every year in India due to air pollution.
Effect of pollution on age
Not only this, due to pollution the average Indian’s lifespan is decreasing by about 1.70 years. That is, even if the government does not have concrete figures, the government should see the figures of the government agency ICMR. The report of Chicago University is even more scary, in which it is being claimed that air pollution is reducing the lifespan of an average Indian by 3.5 years.
The age of people living in Delhi-NCR is decreasing by 7.8 to 10 years. Not only this, due to diseases caused by pollution, India has to suffer an economic loss of about 1.36% of its GDP. On the other hand, Minister of State for Environment Kirti Vardhan Singh is saying that he does not have concrete data on pollution and lung disease. On the contrary, in this Parliament session on December 3, the Union Health Ministry had told in the Rajya Sabha that between 2022 and 2024, 2,04,758 cases of respiratory problems were reported in six big government hospitals of Delhi.
What do health experts say?
Of these, about 35 thousand patients had to be admitted to the hospital. According to the ministry, air pollution was the main reason for this. So, the department of Minister of State for Environment Kirti Vardhan Singh may not have its own concrete figures, but they can consider the Health Ministry’s figures as concrete figures. By the way, the team of TV9 Bharatvarsha has also talked to health experts and tried to understand how much air pollution is related to lung disease.
Click here to know today’s Air Quality Index (AQI)
Senior radiologist Dr. Sandeep Sharma says, pollution is gradually damaging the lungs. Due to this much pollution, life gets reduced by 5 to 10 years. Senior doctor Dr. Neetu Jain says, even healthy people are facing problems due to pollution. People living in Delhi are having weak lungs.
Even though Delhi has become a gas chamber, the crowd in hospitals has increased due to respiratory diseases, but there is no dearth in the running of the government, the government seems to be trying to reduce pollution, how much success is being achieved in this is a different matter. However, it is claimed that there is some relief due to the efforts made by the government in the last few days.