With air pollution levels surging during the winter season compounded by firework emissions from Deepawali, hazardous particulate matter is projected to reach dangerous levels in the atmosphere, prompting the Health Department to enter a state of high alert. As per directives, the Government and private hospitals have been instructed to keep beds and ventilators prepared across wards. In dry winter conditions, rising dust particle concentration combined with post-Deepawali firecracker smoke creates life-threatening risks for respiratory and cardiac patients.

 

In response, the Directorate of Medical and Health Services issued an advisory to hospitals, cautioning that sudden pollution spikes during winter pose severe health risks, advising children, pregnant women, and the elderly to exercise extreme caution while suggesting medical history patients remain extra vigilant. The advisory emphasizes that toxic smoke from fireworks severely affects infants under five years of age whose lung development is incomplete, making them highly vulnerable, alongside pregnant women who absorb pollutant impacts directly affecting the unborn child. Furthermore, chronic respiratory patients suffering from asthma and bronchitis face heightened risks of severe asthmatic attacks as winter pollution escalates, causing pulmonary inflammation and infection risks that amplify pulmonary and cardiac threats.