The impacts of prevailing air pollution is causing a loss of Rs 62-65 billion - one percent of gross domestic product (GDP) - to the health sector annually, sources told Business Recorder here on Wednesday.
Every year the total cases of premature mortality among adults is 21,791 with the annual impact of Rs 58-61 billion, mortality cases among children under five years: 658 with the total annual impact of Rs 0.83 billion; chronic bronchitis: 7,825 with Rs 0.06 billion; hospital admission: 81,312 with Rs 0.28 billion; emergency room visits/outpatients hospital visits: 1,595,080 with annual impact of Rs 0.80 billion; lower respiratory illness in children: 4,924,148 with Rs 0.84 billion; and respiratory symptoms attributed cases were 706,808,732 with no annual costs, the sources said.
Overall, environmental health risks were estimated to contribute more than 20 percent of the total burden of diseases, the sources said. They said that the increasing air pollution was causing heart attacks as high suspension of particles facilitated the spread of air-borne bacteria and viruses, resulting in ENT (eye, noise and throat) infections, less agricultural yield, fading out colours and so on.
However, according to a study, carried out by the Ministry of Environment, about 16.28 million people, 40 percent of the total urban population of the country was under the risks of air pollution, which were costing Rs 25.7 billion every year on account of health merely by not complying with the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines.
A recent World Bank report has pointed out that Urban Air Pollution (UAP) causes average annual damages to the economy in the range of 369 million dollars to the Pakistani treasury and is ranked as the second most important contributor after municipal solid and liquid wastes.
The World Bank's report said that the air pollution caused 168,000 premature deaths annually in Pakistan, out of which 60 percent of them attributable to indoor air pollution. Recent surveys, carried out in the country using mobile units, revealed presence of very high levels of suspended particulate matter (SPM) in major cities , about six times higher than the WHO's guidelines.
With limited resources to address environmental degradation and its associated impacts, attempt to establish clear priorities requires assessment of environmental quality and losses in monetary units. Analysis conducted so far indicates that environmental costs are high in Pakistan. These losses to national treasury are huge when compared to the costs of pollution abatement.
Failures in incorporation of these factors in economic policies contribute to significant loss to the GDP and create many health and environmental problems. However, the sources said, the air quality could be improved by integrating a number of technical and management options and financial incentives, including, monitoring, evaluation and actions.
Unfortunately, Pakistan currently lacks standards for the quality of ambient air and water. Very little work has been done on integrated air quality management system (AQMS). Though many cities are adversely affected, yet air quality monitoring is restricted to the six major cities-Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta and Rawalpindi.
According to the experts, the overall reduction in the particulates contaminating air and in the efficiency in fuel consumption will result in saving of 19.8 million dollars per annum to vehicle owners due to better efficiency and will result in annual reductions in emissions of CO2, lead, hydrocarbons, CO and SPM estimated by Pakistan-Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) in the report.
Quest for growth in terms of industry, power generation and transportation play a key role in the development process of a country, but ultimately deteriorates surrounding environmental conditions. Almost all the cities urgently require special attention for conducting studies and proper environmental and transport planning and traffic management to control air pollution.
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