Silent Killer

Air pollution is increasingly being recognised as India’s gravest public health crisis in the post-CoVID period, with medical experts warning that the situation is likely to deteriorate with each passing year unless urgent and coordinated action is initiated.

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A group of senior doctors of Indian origin practising in the United Kingdom have last week cautioned that India is facing a largely hidden crisis of airway and cardiovascular diseases, many of which remain undiagnosed and untreated, placing a growing burden on both individuals and the country’s already overwhelmed healthcare system.

According to these experts, a substantial number of people, particularly in northern India, are already living with chronic respiratory damage caused by prolonged exposure to polluted air. This burden is not immediately visible, as many patients experience mild or nonspecific symptoms that are often ignored or misattributed. Over time, however, these conditions grow into serious, long-term and, at times, irreversible illnesses, increasing hospital admissions and healthcare costs, which are mostly out-of-pocket for the vast majority of Indians. It is said that in India a common man’s family is always one disease away from poverty.