Every year, the number of planned surgeries that get cancelled in major Delhi hospitals sees a threefold rise owing to patients failing pre-anaesthesia check-up due to throat, airways and lung infections compounded by pollution, doctors said.
New Delhi: Every year, the number of planned surgeries that get cancelled in major Delhi hospitals sees a threefold rise owing to patients failing pre-anaesthesia check-up due to throat, airways and lung infections compounded by pollution, doctors said.
Respiratory tract and chest infections, aggravated asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)caused and aggravated by severe air pollution make it difficult to anaesthetise patients for surgery.
Children under 15 and patients above the age of 60 are the worst affected, doctors said.
“If we look at just the paediatric surgery department in our hospital, around 100-120 children come in every month for surgeries. In summer months, around 5 to 7 surgeries have to be cancelled because of respiratory infections. This number goes up to 15 or 20 when the pollution spike in the city,” said S Rajeswari, professor of anaesthesia at AIIMS, Delhi.
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