Health Dept asks hospitals to prepare for seasonal diseases

Sunlight remained elusive on Wednesday as the city remained enveloped in a thin cover of smog all through the day raising concerns over its impact on the health of residents, especially those suffering from respiratory ailments.

With residents and medical experts worried about the poor air quality, the district health department conducted a meeting here today to ask all hospitals to prepare for seasonal diseases.

Civil Surgeon Dr Kirandeep Kaur said that along with rising pollution, seasonal changes are also a cause of ailments such as cough, cold, chest condition, flu, fever, trouble in breathing and even diarrhoea. She said that residents are also advised to take precautions like wearing masks.

The civil surgeon said that residents with breathing troubles, especially small children and elderly, might face difficulty in breathing when they are out of their homes and on roads. She said that such patients must take extra precautions and consult a physician.

Though health officials have reported only a marginal increase in the number of such cases at hospitals, they remain sceptical as the sky is not expected to get clear in the next few days. “There is not much significant increase in the number of cases due to poor air quality as was expected after Diwali. However, it is just a matter of time and such cases might increase in the next one or two days,” said Dr Sumit Pal Singh, ENT specialist at Jallianwala Bagh Martyrs Memorial (JBMM) Civil Hospital.

The air quality index (AQI) for the city continues to be poor for the last few days. On Wednesday, an AQI of 224 was reported. Burning of crop residue in the district is already in its last phase as harvesting of paddy is almost over and farmers have started sowing their wheat crop. The Punjab Remote Sensing Centre reported only six farm fire incidents from the district today.