Do you know why IMA leaders are opposing half-marathon in Delhi?

       

                                                                           

This may look weird but the national Indian Medical Association (IMA) leadership  and Airtel are having a slanging match over the proposed Half Marathon in Delhi on Nov 19.

Though the official reason stated by IMA is said to be “the alarmingly high levels of air pollution in the capital”, it seems the Airtel half-marathon event organizers hurt the ego of national IMA leaders in Delhi by cold-shouldering their presence before going ahead with their plan.

It is a debatable point if anyone can suspect Airtel’s rival Reliance jio for throwing in a spanner in the former’s plan to organize a marathon in Delhi but what’s indisputable is the fact that being the most polluted city in India, Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) is abysmally poor.

It often ranges from ‘very unhealthy’ to ‘hazardous’ levels. Since the last few days, Delhi’s AQI crossed the 300 ‘danger’ mark at many places.

AQI of Anand Vihar in Delhi on Saturday, 4 November

The trigger

What triggered the war between IMA and Airtel was a joint statement by Dr KK Aggarwal, National President IMA & President, Heart Care Foundation of India (HCFI) and Dr RN Tandon Honorary Secretary General IMA asking Airtel to shelve its proposed half-marathon over poor air quality.

Their joint-statement read: “Delhi has been experiencing high air pollution levels these past days. The air quality is particularly poor in the early morning when pollution is extremely high. This is also the time when the proposed Half Marathon is scheduled to start. Air pollution not only affects the performance of the runner, the dangerously high pollution levels may have disastrous health consequences, even for the healthy participants, including the volunteers involved in the organization of the event.


Being the President, Heart Care Foundation of India (HCFI), Dr KK Aggarwal listed out how  poor air quality with high PM2.5 levels can increase BP and can also increase the risk of acute cardiovascular events such as heart attack,  stroke and sudden cardiac deaths besides aggravating asthma or other existing lung disease such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

“Hence, we demand that the event be cancelled immediately and postponed to a later date when air pollution levels are better. IMA will be writing to Hon’ble Delhi Chief Minister, Chief Justice Delhi High Court and the Chairperson, National Green Tribunal in this regard,” he vowed in the statement.


This is not all as the IMA national president even cited several instances when even international marathon event organizers cancelled them over poor air quality.


They pointed out that in the past there have been instances from around the world, from USA, Malaysia, Singapore (1-5) when marathons and other sports events have been cancelled due to poor air quality.

“If the AQI is above 100, it is prudent for race administrators to warn participants and volunteers, particularly those with lung conditions, about the potential risk.”

However, Airtel half-marathon event organiser, Procam International, expressed surprise over the IMA statement and called their demand for postponement as ‘short-sighted’. Read this link.

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