‘New hospitals in less polluted areas’

The committee’s move is seen as one of the first towards ensuring good environmental conditions for patients.

The Burari hospital is planned as a 200-bed hospital at a cost of Rs 147 crore. The other project,Medwin Hospital,is worth Rs 200 crore. Both project proponents have been asked to provide air quality data of two months to check ambient pollution levels.

A new notification issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests last November sets stricter air quality standards for the country. It also lays emphasis on monitoring and mitigation of a pollutant: Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM).

According to the new standards,RSPM cannot exceed 60 mg per metre cube in 24 hours in residential or ‘sensitive’ areas — hospitals lie in ‘sensitive’ areas and are supposed to have low levels of air and noise pollution.

RSPM is a dangerous pollutant that gets ingested within the respiratory system and is known to trigger asthma and bronchial diseases.

A member of the expect committee told Newsline that environment clearance may not be granted for new hospital projects if the site in question is “critically polluted”. Else,mitigation measures like heavy green belts may have to be taken to relieve the immediate environs of the hospital.

“Under the stricter standards,hospitals should only come up in areas with pollution levels below the prescribed levels,” the committee member said. “Environment clearances will not be given for hospital projects in areas with intolerable pollution levels.”

The committee will also prescribe planting of green belts based on pollution data,the official said. “We have asked for the pollution data of the last two months for these sites,” he said. “This data will establish the way hospitals should be built.”

The move comes after a recent study by the Central Pollution Control Board found that though Delhi is not an industrial area,pollution levels in air,soil and water in the Capital are among the highest compared to the country’s most polluted industrial zones.

Delhi’s ‘Najafgarh drain basin’ — including areas like Anand Parvat,Naraina,Okhla,and Wazirpur — rank 11th among the country’s 88 most polluted industrial clusters.

Delhi’s neighbouring ‘green’ suburbs are also highly polluted: Ghaziabad is ranked third in the list,Noida lies at number 12,and Faridabad at 18.