Air pollution impact on health India: We all are feeling that the air of our cities is no longer the same as before. Breathing is becoming heavy and hospitals are becoming crowded. Now a big confirmation has come from the government on this. The figures presented by the Health Ministry during the winter session of Parliament clearly indicate how fast the poisonous air is making us and our children sick. Answering a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Health Prataprao Jadhav said that there is a deep connection between pollution and respiratory diseases (ARI – Acute Respiratory Infection). If we look at the government figures, the situation appears quite serious. Over 2 lakh cases of acute respiratory disease (ARI) have been reported in Delhi alone during the last two years (2022-2024). These are the people who had so much trouble breathing that they had to run to the hospital for treatment. In 2022: About 67,054 people reached emergency. In 2023: This number increased to 69,293. In 2024: This year too, about 68,411 cases have been registered so far. Surprisingly, the number of patients admitted to the hospital has also increased continuously. This figure has increased from 9,878 to 10,819, which shows that the disease is now taking a more serious form. Mumbai and Chennai are also not safe. It is not that only the people of Delhi are suffering. The same pattern has been seen in metropolitan cities like Chennai and Mumbai. As soon as the quality of the air deteriorates (Severe Pollution), emergency patients start lining up in hospitals. Air is not the only culprit, there are other reasons as well. The government says that polluted air acts as a “Triggering Factor”, that is, it provokes the disease. But how much effect it will have on a person depends on many other things: How is his immunity? How is his eating habits? In which area he lives and what is his economic condition? The Ministry believes that some people become vulnerable to pollution due to weak immunity or poor nutrition. ICMR’s study: Pollution increased, patients increased. To understand how deep the relationship between air and disease is, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) conducted a big study. In this, data of about 33,000 emergency patients from 5 hospitals was seen. The result of the study was very clear – “As the level of pollution increased, the number of respiratory patients in the emergency wards of hospitals increased.” Although it is difficult to prove that pollution is the only cause of the disease, the connection between the two is very strong. The government is now through ‘National Center for Disease Control’ (NCDC) in 30 states across the country. India is closely monitoring these trends of air and disease from 230 centres. The overall thing is that these figures are not just numbers but warnings. This poison of air is hollowing our body from inside, hence caution and prevention is the biggest cure right now.