More than 2 lakh cases of acute respiratory illness were recorded across six major hospitals in Delhi over the past three years, with around 30,000 patients requiring hospitalisation, the health ministry said in a written reply to a question raised in the Rajya Sabha.
The data was presented in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday by Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Prataprao Jadhav. It presents a grim reality for Delhi's hazardous air quality.
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In a response to questions regarding correlation between pollution and rising hospital admissions for asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Jadhav explained that air pollution acts as a significant triggering factor for such ailments.
"Health effects of air pollution are a synergistic manifestation of factors which include food habits, occupational habits, socio-economic status, medical history, immunity, heredity, etc.," Jadhav said in his written reply.
The figures presented in the Rajya Sabha were sourced from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), which monitors pollution-related illnesses through sentinel surveillance sites. The data provided focuses on six specific sentinel sites within Delhi.
The research included 33,213 patients, representing 12.6% of the total emergency room visits at the locations involved in the study.
As stated by the minister, the ICMR analysis revealed that an "increase in pollution levels was linked to a rise in the number of patients visiting emergency rooms."
To address the health implications, the ministry indicated that it issues annual advisories to states and disseminates Air Quality Index (AQI) data to assist healthcare facilities in preparing for increases in patient volume.
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