Open once a week now, the OPD at Ram Manohar Lohia will operate more frequently if number of patients increase
Pollution OPD at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. Photo: Midhun Vijayan / CSE In view of the severe level of air pollution, Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital has started an outpatient department (OPD) specifically for treating patients suffering from the impacts of unhealthy air. The hospital administration has named it “Pollution OPD”.
A team from Down to Earth (DTE) reached the hospital on November 13, 2023 – the second day of the OPD – and found that due to lack of information, there weren’t too many patients yet.
Doctors said they hope that as information about this reaches people, they will start coming.
Medical superintendent of the hospital, Dr Ajay Shukla told DTE that this initiative has been taken so that all the complaints related to pollution can be seen by the doctors of different departments at one place.
When Delhi’s air quality index enters the ‘severe’ range in November-December, people’s health problems increase, the doctor observed. During this period, there is an increase of about 30 per cent in pollution-related diseases, he added.
Air pollution not only causes respiratory problems, but also affects various parts of the body, Shukla said, and the OPD was started keeping this in mind. The department will have doctors who specialise in respiratory diseases as well as conditions of the ear-nose-throat region, skin, eye and mental health, he added.
Dr Desh Deepak, a respiratory disease specialist present at the OPD, explained that most of the respiratory problems occur due to pollution. Some problems caused by air pollution can be treated at a normal OPD as well but if someone has an ENT problem, they would have to go to the respective department and wait, he added.
To avoid this, this dedicated OPD with all related specialists in one place was started.
At present, the OPD will run every Monday from 2-4 pm, the physician added. “If the number of patients suffering from air pollution increases, then the OPD time period and number of days can also be increased.”
Pollution affects people from every age group, and children under five and senior citizens are the most sensitive.
The doctor also observed that middle-aged people, who are fitter, do not change their routine because they don’t experience symptoms like coughing, laboured breathing, irritation in the eyes. But that doesn’t mean they are protected from the hazards of breathing in toxic air, he warned.
Shukla added that people who exercise, cycle or run in the polluted air are at higher risk because their breathing becomes faster during such physical activities, causing much more pollutants to enter the body.
Moreover, many of these air pollutants are carcinogenic, he alerted. This means that although one may not experience cough or shortness of breath in the short term but in 10-15 years, they can be diagnosed with cancer.
Shukla explained that the overall life expectancy of people, which was continuously increasing, has started decreasing due to pollution.
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