Noida pollution: 20-30% more patients at district hospital

Smog and haze continued to engulf Noida on Saturday as the air quality was still termed as ‘severe’. Whole day round the sky remained unclear.  

The city is presently witnessing one of the worst ever air quality which has made patients’ footfall in Noida’s district hospital to increase by 20-30 per cent. The reason behind is the contamination of air with heavily poisonous sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, cadmium mercury, lead and arsenic components. 

The patients admitted are suffering from common diseases which are due to the presence of these toxic chemical components.

Worryingly, hospital admissions for patients with breathing issues and heart problems have been projected to rise by 25-30 per cent over the past one week. The common problem reported in all the patients in the government hospitals and OPDs are asthma, cough, allergy, bronchitis, 

breathing problems and heart contraction. Pollution also became the reason for the death of an asthma patient in Noida’s Apollo hospital in Sector-26.

“The air is contaminated with toxic chemical components. When inhaled, they get the windpipes infected and causes malfunctioning of heart. We have reported an increase in the number of patients by 25-30 per cent in the last 3-4 days,” said senior physician at the District Hospital.  

Talking about the precautionary measures, the administration has formed a committee at the zonal level which will conduct programmes in the nearby villages telling them about the adverse effect of stubble burning on environment and instructing the right way to settle the residuals. 

The district administration has also issued an advisory to the developers to ensure compliance to check dust particles mixing with the air and also asked the transport department to conduct a drive against polluting vehicles.

The alarming pollution levels have also forced the schools of Noida and Ghaziabad to make changes in their timings and restrict outdoor activities. The school administration has also issued an advisory for children to use masks in the morning hours to protect themselves from pollution.