Air deteriorating, asthma cases rising; Covid-19 hosps seek resumption of non-Covid services

new delhi: Health experts have been witnessing a rise in the number of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) or asthma patients for the past 10 days as air quality started aggravating from moderate to poor to very poor and severe in the National Capital Region (NCR). With this, COVID-dedicated hospitals in the city have now requested to resume non-Covid services, considering the situation.

Speaking to Millennium Post, Dr Sharad Joshi, Principal Consultant, Pulmonology at Max Hospital said, "With the start of October, apart from COVID, there is also a surge of non-Covid patients. There is a surge of asthma and COPD patients, while a regular number of pneumonia patients visiting hospitals have

increased."

He also said that recovered patients are going to face more issues due to the onset of winter and pollution. "Recovered COVID patients are more vulnerable to chest related issues due to pollution and winters. Their lungs are already weak and their body is already occupied with the recovery post-Covid," he added.

Meanwhile, resident doctors have written to the state health ministry to re-start non-Covid functions at Lok Nayak Hospital, which is at the moment, a Covid-dedicated hospital. "The Lok Nayak Hospital is one of the largest Delhi hospitals, catering to more than 9,000 OPD patients and 200 surgical procedures on a daily basis in pre-Covid times. The suffering of these patients has increased several folds over the last 7 months due to their inability to reach Lok Nayak Hospital. Several newspaper articles are covering the story of apathy toward non-Covid patients in Delhi. The patients are eagerly waiting for the resumption of non-Covid services at Lok Nayak Hospital," RDA president Keshav Sharma said in a letter.

Speaking on the increase in the number of asthma cases, Dr Arunesh Kumar, senior consultant and head of respiratory medicine and pulmonology at Paras Hospital said they are seeing a surge in patients with worsening chest symptoms in the pulmonology OPD.

With the winter approaching fast and estimations of SARS-COV2's transmitting capacity getting increased in the cold weather, health experts have urged people to take extra precautions.