MARGAO/PANAJI: When residents of Vasco are not cleaning their houses, they are visiting doctors to get treated for respiratory diseases. In fact, the increase in the port town’s coal pollution levels has alarmed not only local medical practitioners but also public health regulators.Senior physician Dr Baban Parulekar says although there are no statistics, Vasco has been witnessing a definite rise in respiratory diseases. “It (coal dust) goes into the upper and lower respiratory tracts from the nose, right down to the lungs. It also may affect other parts of the body and cause allergies,” he says.The paediatric group — infants, children and adolescents up to 12 years of age — is believed to be particularly vulnerable. “They are affected more than the elderly,” Parulekar adds.Doctors aver that the ideal solution lies in constant monitoring of air quality with regard to suspended particulate matter.Consultant chest physician at Old Goa’s Healthway Hospital, Dr Akashdeep Singh Arora, says long-term exposure to coal dust could induce chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and that workers exposed to it over a long period even risk catching pneumoconiosis — a disease caused by dust accumulation in the lung sacs.“Both these illnesses, once well-established in the body, have a negative impact on a patient’s quality of life. There is loss of work days and reduced work capacity, as well as increased chances of lung infections. While both illnesses can be controlled well with medications, the conditions cannot be fully reversed,” Arora said.Margao-based chest specialist Dr Hemant Kulkarni, is of the view that coal workers and others involved in handling the substance run the risk of contracting serious pulmonary ailments, symptoms of which may begin to show only after 2-3 years. He, however, says that much depends on the size and quantum of the suspended particulate matter of the pollutant.Kulkarni advocates an ideal solution that entails constant monitoring of air quality to determine the size and quantum of the suspended particles. “One should insist on air sample surveys. While finer particles go deep inside the lungs causing pulmonary ailments, bigger particles will cause no harm. If the parameters are found to be beyond permissible limits, something needs to be done.” he explains.Spillage of lumps during coal transportation, Kulkarni says, poses no major health hazard as the particles don’t remain suspended in air.Diagnosis of coal dust-related lung problems can be made by simple tests like a pulmonary function test (PFT) and chest X-rays, the doctors say, adding that some cases may require a CT scan of the chest.“The first step of treatment is to stop continuous coal dust exposure,” says Aurora. “Prevention of such exposure requires efforts from the area of coal storage to stop the dust from disseminating in the air to individual households in maintaining dust screens on windows.”Kulkarni cautions against smoking as a preventive measure at an individual level, while advising workers handling coal to use face masks.

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