Air pollution increased hospital visits for heart and lung patients by 30%
An Iranian Ministry of Health official warned of a 30 percent increase in heart and lung patients visiting hospitals if dust continues to accumulate in the country.
Abbas Shahsoni, head of the Air Health and Climate Change Group at the Ministry of Health, told ILNA news agency on Thursday, April 15, that decision-making on air pollution is not a "national" matter, and in the case of Tehran, "if the conditions are such that we conclude that the concentration of dust particles and pollution in Tehran is increasing, we will immediately convene a meeting of the Air Pollution Emergency Committee."
Meanwhile, Sadegh Ziaian, head of the National Center for Forecasting and Managing Weather Hazards, announced strong winds and dust storms in some areas of the country on Friday, April 16, and in the coming days.
According to Mr. Ziaian, this system will cause thunderstorms, strong winds, and dust in areas of the southwest, south, and center, and parts of the north of the country starting Friday, and will reach the eastern provinces of the country by Monday.
The air in vast areas of western, southwestern, and central Iran has been severely polluted for more than a week following the entry of a dust system into the country, and the situation has been declared "dangerous" in many areas.
Some experts and officials have criticized the crisis management of the responsible organizations in this situation last week. In response to these criticisms, the responsible organizations and centers have also declared the origin of this dust to be Iraq and its cause to be Turkey's water policies.
In this regard, Mahmoud Sadeghi, a former member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, tweeted on Thursday: "The entire country has been in a state of shock for two weeks, and none of the officials are biting!"
He added: "At that time, the leadership will say: The Islamic Republic's power system and its various achievements in different sectors have turned Iran into an attractive model for nations."
Somayeh Rafiei, head of the Iranian Parliament's environmental faction, also criticized on April 10 the lack of budget allocation by Ebrahim Raisi's government to combat fine dust, saying: "It is not exactly clear why the National Center for Combating Fine Dust in the Environment Organization did not request and follow up on the necessary funds for this problem in critical conditions."
Source: Radio Farda
