Hospital visits double in a week due to air pollution in Delhi-NCR: RESEACH

According to a LocalCircles study, a digital community-based platform, doctor and hospital visits climbed by 100% in the second week of November compared to the first week owing to pollution-related diseases.

Four out of every five homes had someone experiencing pollution-related diseases, and 22% of families had already seen a doctor owing to air pollution, which jumped to 44% in the second week of November.

LocalCircles survey received more than 25,000 responses from Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad, of which 62 per cent were men and 38 per cent were women.

On average, 86 per cent of Delhi-NCR families have someone experiencing one or more ailments due to polluted air, the survey found.

At the end of the first week of November, 80 per cent of families indicated that one or more members were experiencing pollution-related ailments like breathing difficulty, congestion, cough, sore throat, burning eyes. About 32 per cent said they have “(1) sore throat/cough/congestion /burning eyes”, 7 per cent said they have “(2) headache, sleep disruption, etc.”, and 20 per cent had “(3) breathing difficulty”.

Only seven per cent of the 8,866 respondents said they have had “no impact”.

The survey found that 59 per cent of families in Delhi-NCR have one or more members having sore throat/cough/congestion/burning eyes due to polluted air. Another 40 per cent of residents face “breathing difficulty”, and 27 per cent have “headache, sleep disruption, etc.”

The survey says that most hospitals across Delhi-NCR have reported increasing cases of patients visiting due to pollution-related ailments in the last ten days.

Up to 33 per cent of people surveyed said “one or more of us have visited a doctor”, and 11 per cent said, “one or more of us have visited a doctor and a hospital already”.

In addition, 56 per cent of 7,995 respondents said they are “having health ailments due to pollution but not visited doctor or hospital”.

The survey found that residents of Delhi-NCR currently split almost evenly. In response, 48 per cent of 8,170 respondents said “yes”, and 52 per cent said “no”. about enforcing three days of complete lockdown to reduce air pollution.