India faces "tsunami" of undiagnosed airway disease, experts say

Air pollution has emerged as one of India’s most serious public health challenges since the COVID-19 pandemic and is set to worsen without urgent intervention, a UK-based pulmonologist of Indian origin has warned.

Speaking to the Press Trust of India (PTI), the specialist cautioned that India is facing a “looming tsunami” of airway diseases that remain largely undiagnosed and untreated, posing long-term risks to both public health and the country’s healthcare system.

Several senior doctors practising in the United Kingdom echoed these concerns, saying a vast and largely hidden burden of respiratory illness is “building beneath the surface.” They warned that the anticipated surge in chronic airway diseases could have a lasting and debilitating impact on millions of Indians.

The physicians also challenged the notion that rising cardiovascular disease rates are driven primarily by obesity. Instead, they pointed to growing exposure to toxic emissions from urban transport — including road vehicles and aircraft — as a major contributing factor. According to the doctors, this trend is evident not only in India but also in major cities across the UK and other parts of the world.

By Sabina Mammadli