New Delhi: In quite a shocking illustration of air pollution in Delhi-NCR, the condition of an artificial model of lungs which was placed outside the parking of a private hospital at Karol Bagh on November 3 afternoon has drastically changed.
From white to black, the before and after images of the model may essentially be the nature's way of alarming the citizens about the air that they been inhaling of late.
"Within just 48 hours of having been placed outside the hospital, the model, on Monday noon, looked entirely
different than what it looked like earlier. This is quite an
indication of the polluted air that the national capital is engulfed in," a doctor at the hospital said.
Meanwhile, with Diwali just a day away, a state of medical emergency was declared by the doctors in the Capital on Monday.
"More than 250 patients were seen lined up outside the respiratory at OPD of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in central Delhi," said an official at the hospital.
He added that most of these patients included senior citizens and labourers exposed to excessive air pollution. "The patients expressed their helplessness, as a thick haze of smog has blanket the entire as Delhi woke in dense fog, making it hard to breathe for citizens across the capital."
Dr KK Aggarwal, former president, Indian Medical Association, said, "The safe limit is less than 10. And in India, the government says that it cannot be lesser than 60. Today, in the morning, it crossed 600. In a room with a filter on, it is 300. It is a matter of concern. Anything more than 300, healthy people will be affected. Less than 300, sick people will be affected. At this moment, everybody is affected."
"It's a rain, a flood of pollution. Anything less than PM 2.5 can affect the heart, can cause sudden death, heart attack and can precipitate heart failure," he added.