Hospitals see spike in respiratory cases; situation may worsen

Hospitals in the National Capital Region (NCR) are seeing an increase in number of patients complaining of breathing difficulties and respiratory ailments, as Air Quality Index (AQI) in parts of Delhi-NCR crossed 400 — a level which is considered “severe” — on early Tuesday, a day after Diwali celebrations.

- SANKET KOUL

Delhi-NCR recorded unsatisfactory AQI levels between 345 and 350 in the morning following Diwali, placing it in the “very poor’ category, while several monitoring stations crossed the 400 mark, entering the “severe” range.

Kuldeep Kumar Grover, critical care and pulmonology head, CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram, said that patients have been coming in with pneumonia and respiratory failure, with most of them being the elderly. “Cases with sudden onset of breathing difficulty and cough are increasing. We have seen around 15 such cases till the afternoon, of which five have been admitted,” he added.

This is a 400 per cent rise from the two-to-three such patients that they were seeing in their outpatient departments (OPDs) every day.

While some hospitals are reporting higher cases, others have not seen an increase in patients visiting their OPDs.