Within a clinic located in the most polluted neighborhood of Delhi

What occurs if the air quality index spends a week at or near the 500-level?

A disconcerting symphony of sounds fills the clinic: children sobbing in agony, and raspy, violent coughing fits. By midday, patients are sitting on the pharmaceutical cartons that are scattered throughout the clinic’s waiting area, taking up the one bench.

This is the Bakkarwala Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinic, located in Mundka, the most polluted district of the capital over the past week. Mundka, an industrial neighbourhood in West Delhi, recorded an average seven-day air quality index (AQI) of 446.43 between October 31 and November 6, with the AQI reaching hazardous levels of over 400. The Mundka’s AQI reached 480 on November 5.

What occurs if the air quality index spends a week at or near the 500-level?

A disconcerting symphony of sounds fills the clinic: children sobbing in agony, and raspy, violent coughing fits. By midday, patients are sitting on the pharmaceutical cartons that are scattered throughout the clinic’s waiting area, taking up the one bench.

This is the Bakkarwala Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinic, located in Mundka, the most polluted district of the capital over the past week. Mundka, an industrial neighbourhood in West Delhi, recorded an average seven-day air quality index (AQI) of 446.43 between October 31 and November 6, with the AQI reaching hazardous levels of over 400. The Mundka’s AQI reached 480 on November 5.