Surge in elderly with breathing difficulties as air pollution rises
Almost 40 elderly people have been taken to hospital with breathing difficulties after making emergency alarm calls since the sharp deterioration in air quality at the weekend. More than 900 elderly people pressed their alarms to call for help from the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association yesterday alone, as pollution levels remained high or very high for the fourth consecutive day.
Timothy Mak Kam-wah, chief executive of the association, said: 'The figures have significantly gone up in the past few days as air quality deteriorated.'
By last night at least 13 elderly people had been taken to hospital with respiratory problems after raising the alarm. There were seven on Sunday and 16 on Saturday.
David Hui Shu-cheong, head of respiratory medicine at Chinese University, said previous studies had confirmed the link between air pollution and admission rates of patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
He said admission rates might not surge immediately when the air pollution index increased, because patients might wait a day or two and see a doctor only when they could not put up with the irritation any more.
The pollution, trapped by light winds and hot weather, is expected to remain until wind speeds pick up later in the week.
Meanwhile, respondents to a survey have called for pupils to be allowed to stay at home to study and for physical activities to be cancelled on bad-air days.
The online poll of 6,000 pupils and 524 teachers - which came after some schools recently cancelled outdoor activities because of air pollution - found nearly half the respondents supported the idea of home study when the air was bad, while about a third said all outdoor activities should be cancelled too.
Results of the poll, conducted among schools run by the Shun Tak Fraternal Association, will be submitted to the Council for Sustainable Development, which will close its three-month consultation on air quality on Monday.
The council has received 30,000 submissions. It is expected to report to the government next month.
The bad air yesterday caught the attention of California Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, on a visit to give a talk on climate change.
'Is that a San Francisco fog?' he asked as he stared out of the window at Victoria Harbour while addressing a lunch organised by the American Chamber of Commerce and Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce. He said it seemed worse than Sacramento, the most polluted region in California.
Mr Garamendi said air quality, like climate change, was a worldwide problem that could be tackled by shifting the carbon fuel-based economy to a cleaner one, through stricter regulation and advanced technology.
Anissa Wong Sean-yee, director of environmental protection, said the government would soon start consultation on a law to ban idling engines, and pledged to encourage more people to switch to cleaner vehicle models.
