New Delhi: In view of growing concerns over the impact of air pollution on public health, the central government is planning to launch a program in which district level officials will monitor patients coming to hospitals with respiratory diseases and monitor the air quality at that time. Will keep record of.
According to officials, for this purpose, district level officials are being trained, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is planning to launch a district-level action plan to deal with the impact of air pollution on health.
“The idea is to have two sets of data – one of patients who are having difficulty breathing such as acute respiratory illness and the other of people who are coming to hospitals for the first time with similar complications. Then the hospital data records also Will keep treatment for patients – if they require hospital admission and if oxygen supply is required,” said an official aware of the matter.
The official further said that the hospitals will analyze the hospital patient-load data along with the city’s air quality. Then, the state will examine the relationship between pollution and health and the extent to which pollution affects public health.
“And this will help local administrations know how pollution is impacting health and indicate any action needed. There is a need to build climate-resilient health infrastructure to create a sustainable system. Therefore, states Apart from the -level action plan, there is also going to be a district-level action plan,” the official said.
work plan
Recently, around 200 officials from different districts were trained and asked to prepare guidelines. Each district will have its own action plan. With more manpower, the scheme will be expanded to cover aspects such as mental health, water, vector-borne diseases and zoonotic diseases.
A Lancet study published in 2022 said pollution caused more than 2.3 million premature deaths in India in 2019. The study further stated that approximately 1.6 million deaths were caused by air pollution alone, and more than 500,000 were related to water pollution. Globally, air pollution – both ambient and household – was responsible for 6.7 million deaths in 2019. Water pollution was responsible for 1.4 million deaths and lead pollution caused 900,000 premature deaths.
Another modeling study by the BMJ said outdoor air pollution from all sources causes 2.18 million deaths per year in India, second only to China. The British Medical Journal is a weekly peer-reviewed medical journal.
States are already preparing a separate action plan to deal with the impacts of climate change on people’s health, and most states and union territories have prepared initial drafts of their action plans in collaboration with the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC). What are called vision documents have been prepared. ) and sent them to the Union Health Ministry for approval. The action plan aims to guide doctors and hospitals on how to deal with health threats related to climate change, manpower requirement and development of flood-resilient centers to determine the impact of climate change and any related issues.
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Published: May 14, 2024, 07:10 PM IST