Over half of Delhi's college students suffering from respiratory problems, reveals survey

A survey conducted to assess the harms of high pollution levels in New Delhi between 6 and 11 November has concluded that over half of the national capital’s college students are suffering from respiratory problems. According to India Today, the survey found that around 53 percent of students were facing respiratory health issues while 51 percent had aggravated symptoms during the five days over which the survey was conducted. [caption id=“attachment_4212267” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AP[/caption] Around 42 percent students also had lung function impairment and 11 percent were already on inhalers. A total of 1,044 students in the age group 18 to 24 years participated in the survey conducted by Fortis Healthcare, the report said. “There was a need to involve the youth in such a study because it makes them aware of how pollution can deter their growth. It makes them more involved in the fight against air pollution,” The Asian Age quoted Dr Vikas Maurya, senior consultant and head of respiratory medicine and interventional pulmonology department at Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, as saying. The national capital has been experiencing dense smog for about a week, forcing authorities to enforce emergency measures such as banning construction activities and brick kilns in the National Capital Region. The government on Saturday had scrapped its plan to implement the odd-even scheme after the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had said that there would be no exemption for women, two-wheelers and government servants. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday resolved to put in “sustained efforts” to check pollution and discussed measures to ensure smog does not envelop the national capital in the winter of 2018. Kejriwal held a nearly 90-minute meeting at Khattar’s residence in Chandigarh and was primarily centred around air pollution and stubble burning that is a major contributory factor to smog, which has engulfed the national capital and parts of Haryana and Punjab over the past nearly two weeks. A joint statement was issued after the meeting, in which their environment ministers and other top officials also participated. “We the chief ministers of Delhi and Haryana are happy to have had a very fruitful meeting at Chandigarh today. We recognised our deep and shared concern over the recent episode of heavy smog in our National Capital Region. We agreed upon the need for action on many measures aimed at preventing its re-occurrence in the winter of 2018,” according to the statement. It said that during the discussions, the two sides agreed that “serious health risks to which such episodes of smog expose one and all require concrete and quick action on a number of fronts”. With inputs from PTI