Air pollution spoiling health of traffic cops in Mangaluru, confirms test

[email protected] (CD Network)
May 9, 2016

Mangaluru, May 9: The pulmonary function test (PFT) conducted on the traffic police by the Anti-Pollution Drive (APD) Foundation has showed a significant correlation in lung functions and exposure to vehicular pollutants.

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According to the results of the test and the subsequent study, reduction in air pollution can reduce the number of traffic police falling prey to restrictive lung disease. Reduction in exposure by use of protective gears like pollution mask and reduction in the duration of exposure in a day would also help in improving their lung function. Monitoring vehicles, which are on roads for over 10 years for pollution, would also help in minimising the level of pollution, the foundation said in a press release.

The PFT by computerised spirometer, measuring FVC, FEV1, FEV1/FVC, PEFR, and FEF25-75 per cent, was measured by pulmonologists from the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Yenepoya Medical College.

The test showed that significant number of traffic personnel have affected lungs. The results indicated that 22.3 per cent of the policemen having five and less than five years of service are showing signs of restrictive lungs. About 26.3 per cent policemen, having more than five years' experience, are showing restrictive lung capacity.

The Foundation which has germinated from this city has observed that Mangaluru is one of the rapidly growing cities in the country and the growth is associated with an enormous increase in vehicular traffic emitting exhausts and polluting the atmosphere. Airborne dust plays a major part in the overall atmospheric pollution and motor vehicle emissions are the most significant sources of pollution in an urban environment. Road traffic produces volatile organic compounds, suspended particulate matter, oxides of sulphur, oxides of nitrogen, and carbon monoxide which makes adverse health effects on the exposed population, it said.

It said the traffic-related air pollution is a day-to-day health hazard to individuals who commute to offices, school and colleges. Several students use the public transportation or the transportation provided by the educational institutes and they are exposed to hazardous toxins in the air. Schoolchildren, who are exposed to pollution at a tender age, develop health hazards is their respiratory system due to automobile exhaust. Every year, the percentage of asthmatic children is increasing in urban areas. Vehicular pollution is the sole pollution contributing elements in a large scale within city limits affecting residents, school students and officer goers.

APD?Foundation Founder Abdullah A Rehman said observing respiratory complaints among the retired traffic police would help in studying the long-term effects of the occupation. Through PFT results, APD further wants to study the health impacts of pollution in Mangaluru and related issues.

He added, “The foundation will be able to identify the impact on the most-affected group based on the PFT results. We will then identify the location and area that they are working and start monitoring the pollution levels in these areas. We will also use this information to work towards categorical mitigation.”

ACP (Traffic) Uday Nayak said the tests conducted by the foundation have helped the police a lot. “It is good to know the health condition of the police, especially the traffic police personnel,” he said and added that the hospitals have offered to provide free treatment to the affected police personnel.

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Comments

Swetha
 - 
Monday, 9 May 2016

really sad to see traffic police in this heavy heat climate.

Priyanka
 - 
Monday, 9 May 2016

my father is working in police department, i m very much worried about his health.

Saleem
 - 
Monday, 9 May 2016

really effecting health of traffic police, must wear musk all the time while on duty.

Manikanta
 - 
Monday, 9 May 2016

yahh rain, air pollution, heat make them sick.

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News Network
February 28,2020

Suhaana shuddered with fear as she heard violent banging on her door on Sunday. The atmosphere was charged with communal tension after thousands of ruthless goons supporting contentious Citizens Amendment Act (CAA) launched a bloody onslaught against Muslims in the capital of India.

The family consists of Suhaana (name changed), her partially paralysed husband and two daughters. They are the only Muslim family in Madhuban mohalla of North Ghonda locality in north-east Delhi.

Hearts pounded louder than pounding of the door. Then the banging stopped and noises of men talking loudly came.

"I peeped out from a small window near the kitchen and saw our neighbours standing outside our entrance and arguing with 10-15 unknown people," Suhaana said.

It was the first day of the communal violence, worst in the decades, that fanned out to the entire north-east Delhi over the next three days and claimed at least 42 lives, left over 200 injured and properties worth crores destroyed. The death toll is feared to go up.

Later in the night Suhaana's family moved to one of their Hindu neighbour's house. There are about 30 Hindu households in the mohalla who kept vigil as the atmosphere deteriorated.

The next day, the violence escalated. The neighbours decided to shift Suhaana 's family to Gautampuri for their safety.

Suhaana recounted, "Our neighbours assured us that they are with us but as things were deteriorating, they said they wouldn't be able to protect us if a big mob of hundreds came. They advised us to move to the nearby Gautampuri locality and come back only after things become normal."

Rajkumar Bharadwaj brought the family to Gautampuri in the early hours on February 25.

Anil Gupta, 49, said, "It was tough to rescue them. We were asked by the rioters as to why we were saving the Muslims. But we had to, it is the people of my country who are suffering. It cannot be Hindus or Muslims."

Rajkumar Bharadwaj said, "Their youngest clung to me throughout. After I brought them here at Gautampuri, I felt good. Situation till then was not okay."

On Saturday, some semblance of normalcy returned to parts of north-east Delhi with some people opening their shops amid heavy police presence.

Meanwhile, the morbid sight outside GTB Hospital's mortuary, agonising groans in the hospital wards burnt down houses and shops remind Suhaana and others what they have been spared of.

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News Network
March 3,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 3: Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu has said that a medical team is monitoring the health condition of all those people who had stayed with the coronavirus-hit techie who is admitted to a hospital in Hyderabad.

The first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Telangana was reported from Hyderabad on Monday where a man from Bengaluru, who recently returned from Dubai, tested positive for the virus.

"It has come to our knowledge that the coronavirus-hit person in Hyderabad had gone from Bengaluru. Therefore, all the members in the house where he had stayed here have been identified and are under watch," Mr Sriramulu tweeted on late Monday night.

The minister said he has convened a meeting with the additional chief secretary, commissioner and other senior officials of the health department today.

"Our government has initiated all the measures to prevent the spread of this virus," the minister said.

It is learnt that the 24-year-old techie had not contracted it when he was in Bengaluru but all precautionary measures have been taken.

The software engineer, who works in Bengaluru, had worked with people from Hong Kong in Dubai last month where he is suspected to have contracted the virus, Telangana health minister E Rajender told reporters in Hyderabad.

The man reached Bengaluru on February 19/20 and later went to Hyderabad in a bus.

He took treatment for fever after coming to Hyderabad and was admitted to a private super speciality hospital in the city. As it did not subside, he came to the state-run Gandhi hospital on Sunday evening, Mr Rajender said.

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News Network
July 3,2020

New Delhi, Jul 3: Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) in Karnataka have emerged as a "crucial pillar in the state's success" in combating Covid-19, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday.

Acknowledging and praising their work, the ministry said they have been actively participating in household surveys in the state, screening inter-state passengers, migrant workers and others in the community for symptoms of the infection,

“Around 42,000 ASHAs have emerged as a crucial pillar in the state's success” in combating Covid-19, the ministry said.

"Recognizing the increased vulnerability of certain population groups to Covid-19, in a one-time survey to identify households with the elderly, persons with co-morbidities, and immune-compromised individuals, about 1.59 crore households were covered," the ministry said in a statement.

ASHAs regularly monitor such high-risk groups in their area with a periodicity of follow-up visits varying from once a day in the containment zones to once every 15 days in other areas, it said.

They also visit the houses of persons complaining influenza-like-illness (ILI) symptoms and severe acute respiratory infections (SARI), besides high-risk individuals who have called the state health department helpline numbers, the ministry said.

ASHAs are a part of the Rural Task Force, headed by Panchayat Development Officer (PDO) at the Gram Panchayat level, for addressing public grievances on both Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 related services.

ASHAs are trained female community health activists selected from the village itself and accountable to it. They are trained to work as an interface between the community and the public health system.

In the urban areas too, they have been at the forefront of dissemination of various awareness activities in fever clinics and swab collection centres in urban areas.

They have also actively screened cases of ILI and SARI in urban areas. They are also part of the screening teams at international and interstate check-posts.

Karnataka has reported 272 Covid-19 deaths and 18,016 cases, according to the health ministry data updated at 8 AM.

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