(MENAFN- Live Mint) As Delhi's air quality plunged to the“very poor” category, a former All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) doctor issued a stark warning to residents, urging those who can to temporarily leave the city until pollution levels improve. Senior pulmonologist Dr Gopi Chand Khilnani advised the Delhi residents, especially the elderly and those with chronic lung disease or chronic heart disease, to leave Delhi for six to eight weeks or relocate, if they can afford.

The advice comes as a thick blanket of smog blankets Delhi and the surrounding areas, triggering health crisis post-Diwali celebrations.

In an interview to The Indian Express, Dr Gopi Chand Khilnani said indoor and outdoor pollution has led to a rise in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer cases among adults.

“Also, the incidence of lung cancer is rising among younger patients,” he said, adding,“In the long term, air pollution affects the lungs in totality – lung capacity and lung immunity go down.”

He also stressed that air pollution harms not just the lungs, but also the heart, brain, kidneys, intestines, and the immune system.

“There is an increased incidence of heart attacks and brain attacks, and there is more hypertension and diabetes. There is some evidence that even rheumatological diseases like rheumatoid arthritis are more severe,” he said.

“There is evidence that air pollution leads to severe forms of pneumonia, be it viral or bacterial, leading to high mortality.”

Do air purifiers help?

The doctor explained that air purifiers work best when they run continuously in a closed room, as frequent door openings reduce their effectiveness.

“Air purifiers have a filter, and good air purifiers have an adsorbent which is expected to adsorb gases, so that the air that comes out is likely to be clean. An air purifier of good quality and capacity should cover the volume of the room. It should be on all the time,” he said.

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“Most importantly, the room has to be closed all the time – its effect is nullified if the door is opened multiple times for people to come in and go out.”

What can the Delhi residents do?

When asked how Delhi residents can protect themselves amid the post-Diwali pollution crisis, Dr Khilnani advised those who can afford to leave the city for a while should do so.

“Everybody cannot afford to leave Delhi, because it is not simple. But those who have chronic lung disease or chronic heart disease, those who are on oxygen, and those who have the opportunity and ability to go abroad or to less polluted places, I very safely advise them to leave Delhi for 6-8 weeks from now, so as to protect themselves from the distress of breathlessness, the requirement of oxygen, and so on and so forth,” he was quoted as saying.

Delhi pollution crisis

Delhi's air quality worsened on Saturday, November 1, slipping into the 'very poor' category, with an overall Air Quality Index (AQI) reading of 303 compared to 218 recorded the day before.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) classification, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51-100 'satisfactory', 101-200 'moderate', 201-300 'poor', 301-400 'very poor' and 401-500 'severe'.

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