It’s not just chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) that is leaving Mumbai residents short of air. Akash Srivastav’s troubles surfaced two years ago when he started feeling breathless during his morning walks. A lung-function revealed the 32-year-old marketing executive was struggling with asthma.

“I now use an inhaler and antibiotics, avoid cold baths and take the train,” says Srivastav. “It at least reduces the vehicular pollution I have to deal with.”

Vehicular pollution is probably the number one enemy choking Mumbai and its residents. With an average of 13.5 lakh cars on the city’s roads — and 200 vehicles being added every day — this is a monster of gigantic proportions, and growing all the time.

The construction boom across Mumbai makes matters worse. The frenzied rush to build housing units, malls, multiplexes and more has a dark side to it: suspended particulate matter, silica content and toxic gases that leave the city gasping.

Deadly cocktail

Add poor lifestyles to the mix and you have a deadly cocktail. “Immunity levels have dropped because of pollution, unhealthy diets and lifestyles, making people more susceptible to respiratory problems,” says chest physician Dr KC Mohanty. From frequent cough and cold to more dangerous problems of the lungs and respiratory tract, Mumbaikars’ troubles worsen during the winter months.

It is then that COPD strikes hardest. A 2005 National Commission on Macroeconomics and Health (NCMH) report estimates that in 2001 there were 1.5 crore cases of chronic COPD cases in India in the age group of 30 years and over. That number is expected to rise by 50 per cent by 2016.

The NCMH report estimates that the cost of treatment per episode per year for an acute COPD case is approximately Rs32,000. This cost is estimated to go up to Rs51,000 by 2016.

“While we have inhalers to control the airway constriction and antibiotics to deal with chest infections, more COPD-specific medication is needed,” says Dr Amita Nene, chest physician, Bombay Hospital.

Asthma relief

This is where asthmatics are better off. There is a huge amount of awareness and information about the ailment and well-tabulated treatment. Asthma is different from COPD in that it is a condition of clogged up airways, while the latter is a condition of the lungs. But though the mortality rate is low, the pain, fear and troubles of asthma patients are also rising.

For long years, Laxmi Subramanium battled regular bouts of wheezing, coughing and breathlessness. Says the 29-year-old housewife and mother of two: “Our flat overlooked the Sion flyover and because of the pollution I developed asthma when I was three, even though there’s no history of it in my family,” she says.

Things got better for Subramanium when her family moved, while she was in her teens, to less polluted Matunga. No early morning classes and an active lifestyle also helped. “But two years ago I started having breathing problems again,” she says. Now Subramaniam’s five-year-old daughter has developed asthma too. “It gets worse because of all the garbage being burned and the work at construction sites.”

The medication for the two respiratory ailments is not very different. Doctors prescribe a combination of bronchodilators, steroids and antibiotics to help slow the decline. But more than anything, we need cleaner air to breathe and a better environment to live in.