Eastern suburbs see spike in throat infections

Chembur resident, 70year-old Vani Kumar (name changed), hasn't stepped out of home for the past few days. She refuses to open the windows or the doors of the rooms facing the Deonar dumping ground, where a raging fire has been spewing out thick smoke for the last two days.
The grandmother is worried that the pollutants in the smoky haze will trigger an attack of asthma, a condition she has struggled to keep under control for decades.She isn't the only anxious Chembur resident around; scores of them are worried about the acrid smell invading their homes these days.
Priti Gopalkrishnan, who lives in a third-floor flat of a building near Diamond Garden, Chembur, woke up with a sore throat on Thursday morning."We kept the air-conditioner working through Thursday night to ensure we didn't suffer similarly on Friday ," she said.
Goplakrishnan is accustomed to health hazards associated with living close to the dumping ground. "When I was a child, my mother and other residents set up the Smoke Affected Residents Forum to ensure illegal fires at Deonar dumpyard are stopped. But two decades later, I watch my children struggling with the same health hazards," she added.
Doctors have been getting complaints of allergic cough, watery eyes and throat pain. "Both Govandi and Garodia Nagar (in Ghatkopar) seem enveloped in this haze that is making people with sensitive airways suffer," said Dr Amo Manerkar, who lives in Ghatkopar. His local clinic has been witnessing an increase in the number of people with bronchitis in the last few days.
"Dozens of people with viral flu and diarrhea have been visiting the clinic in the last couple of weeks, but people with bronchial infections has risen now," he added.
Dr Pradip Shah from Mulund said, "There has been a slight in crease in people with allergic co ugh and breathlessness due to the smog, but this isn't alarming. Climatic inversion in December-January results in pollutants remaining trapped in the lower atmospheric levels. "Allergic cough and asthmatic attacks are not uncommon in this period," he said.