Air pollution India's biggest health crisis since Covid, warn doctors

Air pollution is arguably the biggest public health crisis India has faced since the pandemic and will continue to worsen each year unless urgent action is taken, a UK-based Indian-origin pulmonologist warned, noting that a looming tsunami of airway disease remains largely underdiagnosed and untreated.

Speaking to PTI, multiple senior doctors practising in the UK asserted that a vast, hidden burden of undiagnosed airway disease is "building beneath the surface" and its incoming wave will exact a heavy, lasting toll on Indian citizens and its healthcare system.

They linked the global rise in cardiovascular diseases over the past decade to increasing exposure to toxic emissions from urban transport, including automobiles and aircraft, particularly in cities across India, the UK and beyond, rather than obesity alone.