Delhi struggles to breathe easy as air turns toxic

Delhiites of different age groups faced respiratory problems this month. On Sunday, the city’s air quality remained in the ‘very poor’ category.

From a pregnant woman to a college student and a homemaker, Delhiites of different age groups faced respiratory problems this month, when air pollution spiked. Some people also said that they see their existing conditions worsen every winter over the same reason.

Vikas, 24, was at the pulmonary medicine OPD of AIIMS, Delhi, with complaints of cough and breathlessness. “I study in Allahabad and a couple of days back, I came to Delhi and soon after coming back, my condition started getting worse. I’m coughing and there is a sound when I’m breathing at night. At times, I get breathless too,” Vikas said.

Nikhil Bante, a consultant (pulmonary medicine) at Holy Family Hospital, said that many patients’ conditions worsen when air pollution spikes.

“Aisha, an asthmatic patient I have been seeing for the past few years, had to be given steroids last winter when pollution spiked and her condition worsened. This year, her condition has worsened again and she started getting breathless and visited the emergency twice. But since she is three months pregnant now, we had to give her a lower dose of steroids,” Dr. Bante said.

He said that they cannot give steroids to women in the first trimester as it affects the growth of the foetus, and this makes treatment tricky. “If in severe Asthmatic patients oxygenation falls, it will affect the oxygenation of the foetus too,” he said.

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Fauzia Begum, 39, a resident of Old Delhi, has lived in the national capital since her birth. She started getting recurrent coughs about seven years ago. In the first two years, she took homoeopathy and then shifted to allopathic medicine, but to no respite.