National 5 (Spotlight Weekly)

Health Hazard

Bringing down the levels of air pollution in the city will result in better health and saving of millions of rupees as medical costs

By SANJAYA DHAKAL

A study carried out by environmental and health experts has shown that reducing Kathmandu’s air pollution levels to international standards will avoid over 2000 cases of hospital admissions per year and save over Rs 30 million per year in just hospital costs.

At present the PM10 (particles that are 10 micron in size and could easily enter human body through inhalation) level in Kathmandu is 148 micro grams per cubic meter (198 if core city area is considered) – this is significantly higher than international standards (around 72 unit).

The PM10 levels in Kathmandu, 60 percent of which consist of PM2.5 (particles smaller than 2.5 micron in size that can directly enter lungs), have increased by three-fold in the last 10 years. The pollution level in Kathmandu during winter months are now comparable to some of the most polluted cities in the world.

This has directly affected the health of the city residents. “The number of people suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), an irreversible damage of the lungs, is increasing and the age of people suffering from this problem is decreasing,” said Professor Dr. Bimala Shrestha, from the Institute of Medicine, who was a part of the study team.

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A study done by the World Bank estimated impacts on mortality and morbidity due to PM10 levels in 1990. It showed that Kathmandu’s PM10 resulted in 84 cases of excess mortality, 506 cases of chronic bronchitis, 4874 cases of bronchitis in children and 18,863 asthma attacks per year. Overall, Kathmandu’s residents experienced over 1.5 million respiratory symptom days per year.

Likewise, an analysis of the records of 369 COPD patients and 315 control patients admitted to Patan Hospital from April 1992 to April 1994 showed that the odds of having COPD is 1.96 times higher for Kathmandu valley residents compared to those from outside the valley.

The study showed that the major source of harmful particles in Kathmandu’s air is vehicle emission. Diesel vehicles are especially bad. One of the best ways to tackle air pollution is to promote zero-emission electric vehicles. “Just by having the trolley buses back on the road we will be saving about 3 tons of toxic particles from entering the bodies of Kathmandu’s residents,” said Bhushan Tuladhar, chief of Clean Energy Nepal (CEN), who jointly conducted the study with Dr. Shrestha.

The study was carried out by the Kathmandu Electric Vehicle Alliance (KEVA), an alliance of government and NGOs to promote electric vehicles. “This study clearly shows that the government must immediately take effective action to promote electric vehicles in a big way to ensure that Kathmandu residents have clean air to breath,” said Bibek Chapagain, in-country coordinator of KEVA. The KEVA is a program supported by USAID’s Clean Air Initiative and alliance partners PADCO Inc., Winrock International, City and County of San Francisco and World Environment Center (WEC).