delhi

Updated: Dec 05, 2017 11:34 IST

At least one in every seven traffic policemen in Delhi was diagnosed with respiratory disorders, showed the preliminary data from a medical check-up being done to evaluate the effects of air pollution on the health of the force.

Traffic policemen spend anywhere between 12 and 14 hours a day managing traffic on the most congested roads of Delhi, where air pollution levels average three to four times the safe standards during this time of the year.

Pulmonary function test (PFT) results of these traffic policemen done on Monday showed that 80 of the 516 who attended the camp held at the Traffic Police Headquarters in Todapur suffered from breathing problems. These issues ranged from throat irritation to lung congestion and asthma. All 5,700 traffic personnel will have to undergo similar tests over the next 10 days.

“Most men had breathing problems. Doctors said those undergoing tests repeatedly cleared their throat, coughed and got breathless easily. Most of them showed signs of asthma,” said Joint Commissioner of Police Garima Bhatnagar.

“During tests we found that even those who passed the PFTs have also said that they found breathing difficult and throat congestion was common for most. This is the first stage and the long exposure that they have to polluted air can only make matters worse. They have to battle asthma and even Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), which is irreversible,” said Dr Sunny Kalra from BLK Super Speciality Hospital who examined the traffic police personnel.

In a PFT test, a person has to exhale air into a hollow cylindrical device called a spriometer and the lung capacity is measured by the reading it provides.

Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Dependra Pathak who inaugurated the camp said that long exposure to polluted air was why there was a need to conduct such a health camp.