Respiratory diseases such as emphysema, bronchitis and asthma on the rise in Mumbai due to high air pollution, even as city air gets more polluted that Delhi

MUMBAI: Even as Mumbai’s AQI (Air Quality Index) hovered around 309 – in the ‘very poor’ category on Friday, higher than Delhi (249) for two days in a row, Dr Pranav Kabra of the Raksha Hospital Research Centre at Malad warned that respiratory diseases such as emphysema, bronchitis and asthma are on the rise in Mumbai primarily due to the higher air pollution.

According to Dr Kabra, several more cases of bronchitis and asthma were reported in the Malad West, Orlem, Malwani, Ganesh Nagar and Kandivali West localities of Mumbai western suburbs as well as in Ghatkopar, Kanjurmarg, Bhandup and Kurla in the eastern suburbs, over the last 4 days from Wednesday to Saturday, which was primarily due to the bad air in the city and suburbs.

The Raksha Hospital Research Centre is a division of the Raksha Multispeciality Hospital at Malad West in suburban Mumbai.

According to the weatherman, the bad air quality in Mumbai is attributed to the weak winds blowing over and across the city due to which pollutants and suspended particulate matter remain at the atmospheric level and do not rise above it or are not dissipated across larger areas.

“We have noticed a 10 to 15 percent increase in respiratory diseases during the December second week as compared to a 3 year average for this period. The heightened air pollution is one of the major reasons for this trend, which is likely to continue for another 3-5 days,” Dr Kabra said.

Many hospitals in the city and suburbs of India’s financial capital have witnessed an increase in patients admitted due to various respiratory diseases and ailments and other problems like viral fever, sore throat and fungal and bacterial infections, most of them related to air pollution.

The city and suburbs could experience some unseasonal rains next week, the Indian Meteorological department (IMD) has predicted, which could reduce the air pollution in Mumbai to some extent.

Night-time temperatures – both in the city and suburbs are expected to fall by 2-4 degrees, making the weather a bit more comfortable for Mumbaikars, the IMD said.