CHENNAI: More than 60 leading doctors on Sunday launched the “Doctors for Clean Air – Tamil Nadu and Puducherry” initiative. The initiative aims at bringing together the medical fraternity to address the health implications of air pollution by engaging and empowering doctors and creating awareness among public about ill-effects of air pollution.One of the main objectives of the network is to work with state-level policy makers towards formulation and implementation of air pollution control policies and laws. The state launch comes a month after the national launch of the network in New Delhi, according to release.Dr Arvind Kumar, director, Centre for Chest Surgery at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, one of the leading voices of the national network, said: “Air pollution has become a public health emergency in India and through the Doctors for Clean Air network, we aim at bringing together passionate and trained doctors who will lead the fight against air pollution in their respective regions across the country.”Talking about the condition prevailing in Tamil Nadu state, Hisamuddin Papa, a senior pulmonologist and founder of Huma Lung Foundation, said: “Tamil Nadu is one of the most industrialised states in the country with many cities that are hotspots of air pollution. In Chennai alone, there are pockets like the Ennore-Manali region where the air quality is as bad or worse than New Delhi, yet not much attention is given to air pollution and its impacts on health of the residents by the regulatory agencies.”“The apathy of the regulatory agencies towards environmental health of Tamil Nadu can be seen from the fact that the recently launched National Clean Air Program of the MoEFCC (ministry of environment, forest and climate change) has only one city from the state as non-attainment city. Chennai, despite being severely polluted, is the only metro to be excluded from the programme,” he said.The network will monitor air quality through hospitals and public health centres, issue health advisories to the general public, conduct health and air pollution studies and work with the state and local administration to meaningfully address the problems of air pollution. The group also has plans to prepare a road map to achieve clean air in both Tamil Nadu and Puducherry

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