Air pollution in Delhi-NCR, where air quality has fallen into the ‘severe’ category, is affecting people’s health more than tobacco smoke, said Dr Randeep Guleria.
New Delhi: Air pollution in Delhi-NCR, where air quality has fallen into the ‘severe’ category, is affecting people’s health more than tobacco smoke, says former AIIMS director Dr. Randeep Guleria said.
“It causes more disability than tobacco smoke. We talk a lot about smoking, but not about tobacco use. But now the burden of disability has shifted more towards air pollution and that too is causing a bigger problem than smoking,” said Dr Randeep Guleria.
Dr. Randeep Guleria said, “So unfortunately the AQI is in the critical range and we have seen that every year. It has increased to 900 in the last few years. Of course, the concern is that it has a huge impact on health. A paper published in 2017 suggested that more than 1.24 million people die every year in India due to air pollution. So it’s massive mortality that we see that causes massive disability. A lot of people have problems.”
A thick layer of smog blanketed Delhi on Friday as the city’s air quality remained in the “severe” zone for the second consecutive day, mainly due to unfavorable weather conditions and farm fires in Punjab. At 4 pm, Delhi’s 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 447. Concentrations of lung-damaging fine particles, known as PM2.5, were above 470 micrograms per cubic meter, nearly eight times the safe limit. 60 micrograms per cubic meter, in many areas.
