The toxic smog season has just begun in India’s capital, but people unable to escape the cancer-causing smoke say the dangerous health effects are already starting to take their toll.
New Delhi is routinely one of the world’s most polluted capitals, with a mix of factory and vehicle emissions fueled by agricultural fires blanketing the city every winter, lasting from mid-October to at least January.
Cold temperatures and slow-moving winds trap deadly pollutants, suffocating the megacity of 30 million people with putrid smoke.
Factory worker Balram Kumar returns home from work tired, but then coughs all night.
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“I have barely been able to sleep the whole night,” Kumar, 24, told AFP as he waited outside a special pollution clinic set up at the government-run Ram Manohar Lohia hospital.
“My chest hurts whenever I cough. I am taking medicines but there is no relief,” Kumar said.
He pointed sadly to his chest X-ray.
He said, “My cough is not getting better.”
thousands of deaths
On Tuesday, levels of PM2.5 particles – the smallest and most harmful, which can enter the bloodstream – topped 278 micrograms per cubic metre, according to monitoring firm IQAir.
This is 18 times the daily maximum recommended by the World Health Organization.
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On the worst days, levels can rise up to 30 times the daily maximum.
Piecemeal government efforts to reduce smog, such as a public campaign encouraging drivers to turn off their engines at traffic lights, have failed to make an impact.
A study in the Lancet medical journal linked air pollution to 1.67 million premature deaths in the world’s most populous country in 2019.
The air pollution situation in Delhi has worsened after large-scale violations of the ban on fireworks in celebration of Diwali, the festival of lights, last week.
The firecracker frenzy turned Delhi’s winter sky a dull grey.
Dr Amit Suri, head of the pollution clinic, said the number of patients with respiratory problems usually increases by 20-25 per cent after the festival.
It’s the same story this year too.
“Most patients are coming with complaints of dry cough, throat irritation, watery eyes and some of them are also suffering from skin rashes,” Suri told AFP.
The hospital provides treatment and medicines free of cost.
None of its patients can afford private health care, and many cannot afford air purifiers for their homes.
WHO says air pollution can trigger stroke, heart disease, lung cancer and other respiratory diseases.
‘How will I survive?’
A study published in the Lancet Planetary Health journal in July said more than seven percent of deaths in India’s 10 largest cities were linked to air pollution.
Delhi was the worst offender with 12,000 annual deaths linked to air pollution – or 11.5 percent of the total.
India’s Supreme Court ruled last month that clean air was a fundamental human right, and ordered both the central government and state-level officials to take action.
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But critics say debates between prominent rival politicians from neighboring states, as well as central and state-level officials, have exacerbated the problem.
“We need to create awareness,” said Dr Ajay Shukla, medical superintendent of the hospital. “The problem is getting bigger by the day.”
On the worst days, Shukla said, it’s like chain-smoking cigarettes.
Doctors are counseling patients and providing a list of what to do to reduce health problems.
The main advice is to try to stay indoors, keep doors and windows closed and wear anti-pollution masks when outside.
But Kanshi Ram, a 65-year-old daily wage laborer who visited the clinic, said he did not know what to do to ease his severe cough, which has kept him away from work this week.
“Doctors are telling me not to go out and breathe polluted air,” said Ram, who earns 500 rupees ($6) working every day.
“But how will I survive if I don’t go out?” He added. “I feel very helpless.”
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