Health: A pulmonologist of Indian descent living in the UK cautioned that air pollution is arguably the largest public health issue India has faced since the pandemic and will only get worse every year if immediate action is not taken. He also noted that a tsunami of airway disease is still largely undiagnosed and untreated.

Speaking to PTI, a number of leading medical professionals in the UK said that an enormous, hidden burden of undetected airway illness is “building beneath the surface” and that the impending wave would have a severe, long-lasting impact on Indian residents and the country’s healthcare system.

Instead than focusing just on fat, they connected the growth in cardiovascular illnesses worldwide over the last ten years to rising exposure to harmful emissions from urban transportation, such as cars and airplanes, especially in cities across India, the UK, and other countries.

On Tuesday, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari acknowledged that the transportation sector’s reliance on fossil fuels accounts for around 40% of Delhi’s pollution. He also emphasized the pressing need for cleaner options and pushed for the usage of biofuels.

Although the government acknowledged that air pollution is one of the triggers for respiratory ailments and related diseases, it stated during the just ended winter session of Parliament that there is no concrete evidence linking elevated levels of the Air Quality Index (AQI) to lung diseases.

It is both important and long overdue for the Indian government to put more effort into reducing air pollution. But it’s time to face an unsettling reality: the harm has already been done to the millions of people who live in North India.

The existing state of management is only the beginning of the problem.

According to Manish Gautam, a former member of India’s Health Covid-19 Advisory Committee and a consultant pulmonologist in Liverpool, “a huge, hidden burden of undiagnosed airway disease is building beneath the surface,” he told PTI.

He urged lawmakers to prioritize early diagnosis and treatment of airway problems and to think about forming a quick “lung health task group,” warning that years of exposure indicate that a lung health emergency is developing.

According to experts, hospitals in Delhi alone had a 20–30% increase in respiratory patients in December, many of whom were young people and first-time cases.

Gautam, who has worked for the UK’s National Health Service for more than 20 years, said that while pollution prevention and control strategies are still important, they are no longer enough on their own.

India has already shown the feasibility of extensive public health initiatives. Early identification and organized treatment programs have greatly reduced the burden of TB thanks to government interventions.

“Airway diseases now require a similar level of urgency and investment,” the pulmonologist from Liverpool told PTI.

The administration recently reaffirmed in Parliament that there is insufficient evidence to establish a direct causal relationship between air pollution and illness or death.

There is “overwhelming scientific evidence” that air pollution causes a variety of diseases, such as cardiovascular, respiratory, neurological, and systemic, and any delay in addressing the problem will increase the financial and health costs, according to Rajay Narain, Honorary Cardiologist at St George’s University Hospital in London.

He emphasized that while temporary solutions could lessen exposure right away, long-term, scientifically based policies that prioritize clean air, safeguard vulnerable groups, and hold all parties responsible are the true answer.

“A lot of early symptoms, like headaches, exhaustion, a slight cough, irritation of the throat, discomfort in the digestive system, dry eyes, skin rashes, and recurrent infections, are often written off as minor problems but could be early warning signs of serious chronic disease,” Narain told PTI.

during 2 lakh occurrences of acute respiratory sickness were reported in Delhi during the previous three years, with over 30,000 individuals needing hospitalization, according to data the health ministry gave to Parliament during its winter session.

Even on ostensibly clear days, people living in polluted cities are exposed to concealed cardiovascular risks, according to Professor Derek Connolly, a consultant cardiologist at the Midland Metropolitan University hospital in Birmingham, who highlighted the elements that are often overlooked.

People are unaware that cardiovascular disease is a very gradual process that might worsen quickly at times. It’s a quiet murderer.

Because particulate matter is invisible and difficult to detect like blood pressure or cholesterol, the majority of individuals are ignorant of their exposure. Even on days when pollution does not appear to be a major problem, we are all exposed to it,” Connolly told PTI.

Although obesity has been blamed for the rise in cardiovascular illness over the last ten years, the Birmingham-based cardiologist believes that a significant amount of the increase is really caused by the growth of cars and aircraft that release harmful compounds into the atmosphere.

PM. According to the “2025 Report of The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change,” 2.5 pollution caused more than 17 lakh fatalities in India in 2022, with 2.69 lakh of those deaths being attributable to the usage of gasoline for road transportation.

A global analysis conducted in May by the International Council on Clean Transportation found that by 2040, measures aimed at reducing emissions from road transportation may avoid 1.4 million new instances of childhood asthma and save 1.9 million deaths.

Healthcare experts have often noted the pervasive effects of air pollution on public health throughout the years, emphasizing the need for immediate action.