Unwell Beijing patients lament hazardous smog

Seeking treatment for respiratory illnesses, Beijing hospital-goers complained on Wednesday that their conditions were being worsened by toxic smog, now in its third day and which prompted authorities to declare a pollution “red alert.”

The capital’s 21.5 million residents were besieged by levels of PM2.5 — harmful microscopic particles that penetrate deep into the lungs — over 300 micrograms per cubic metre, according to the US embassy, which issues independent readings.

The World Health Organisation’s recommended maximum exposure is 25.

“Because of the smog, I generally tend to wear a mask indoors as well as outside, but today, I don’t even dare to go out,” said Yu Silong, who has been hospitalised for three days and had to quit his supermarket job to seek treatment.

“Polluted smog didn’t cause my asthma, but it greatly aggravates it,” he added, sitting on his bed at the Wangfu Hospital in northern Beijing, an antibiotic drip running into his arm. Liu Yanping, whose husband had just been diagnosed with a benign throat tumour that prevented him from speaking, said: “The past few days, he’s been coughing and feeling horrible.” All they could do was “close the windows and doors” of their Beijing housing, she added.

Beijing and much of the country has has been blighted by chronic air pollution for years, and the capital’s red alert coincided with global climate change talks in Paris, where China is in the spotlight as the world’s biggest polluter.

Most of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the burning of coal for electricity and heating — particularly when demand peaks in winter — and is also the main cause of smog, which can include multiple pollutants. Gao Yongda, the head of the respiratory ward in which Yu was hospitalized, told AFP that PM2.5 penetrates into the respiratory system to cause coughing, sore throat and shortness of breath.

“The number of patients has grown in recent years. Smog is an important factor in the aggravation of diseases,” he said.

Long-term damage was more significant, however, as PM2.5 “doesn’t necessarily cause visible effects right away”, he explained, adding that there would probably be “an explosion of disease cases” in five years’ time or later.