Gurugram: The school students in Gurugram are not healthy and the poor quality of air levels is largely to blame for that. In a survey conducted by the national child health programme among 13,520 government school students, 40 per cent of the children were found to be unhealthy. Out of the students surveyed, 10 per cent of the school students were found to be having respiratory diseases which formed the largest category of unfit children.
In a more worrying scenario, students having respiratory ailments are in the age group of three to six years.
Poor air quality levels prevalent in the city are attributed as the main reason for respiratory problems among the young. Other diseases that are plaguing the Gurugram children studying in government schools include anaemia, dental cavities and poor eye sight. It was also observed that lack of proper diet is resulting in a stunted growth among substantial number of students.
The sample size is just a tip of an iceberg as there are over 1.2 lakhs students studying in the 500 government schools of Gurugram district. According to sources more such survey will be conducted in the schools so that the state of health among students can be gauged. There are also plans to share these figures with the state government so that an effective solution to the health challenges faced by the students can be found out. "The effects of air pollution on children are way more than the effects on adults, because children's body is growing and children lungs are immature," said Dr Shaguna Mahajan, a city-based pediatrician.
"Nowadays, children are more prone to coughing, wheezing, chest congestion and cold. A child recovers from one and gets the other problem much quicker. Children are now prone to so many allergies at a very young age that they have to carry these problems for the rest of their life," She further added.
This is not the first time that figures have suggested an adverse impact of deadly air levels. An official data released by Gurugram Civil Hospital last year revealed that there have been 30 per cent increase in patients suffering from respiratory diseases. In order to put pressure on the government agencies, the citizens are constantly demanding to devise effective measures to curb deadly air quality levels. Children have been at the forefront of these movements.