#IMA encourages its 2.5-lakh members to help reduce environmental #pollution

IMA encourages its 2.5-lakh members to help reduce environmental pollution

– Encourages doctors to car pool while traveling for CME’s and other official meetings

 New Delhi, January 11, 2015: The Indian Medical Association – the only representative, national voluntary organization of doctors of Modern Scientific System of Medicine today announced a policy encouraging its 2.5-lakh members across 1700 branches to do their bit to reduce environmental pollution. To encourage carpooling, IMA has asked all its branches to offer a special discount on CME registration fees for those doctors who travel as a group to the venue.

India is at present facing an environmental crisis with the pollution levels in most cities at an all time high. It’s National capital is said to have recorded higher PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels than even Beijing and Shanghai over the past one month. The soaring pollution levels has led to a startling spike in the cases of respiratory illness, skin and eye allergies, cardiac arrest, memory loss, depression, and chronic lung damage. 4 out of every 10 children in Delhi are found to suffer from severe lung problems. In addition to this, the congestion and volume of traffic on the roads has led to a drastic rise in the everyday stress that people undergo. High stress levels is directly linked to an early incidence of hypertension and heart disease

Sharing their thoughts, Dr. S.S Agarwal – National President and Padma Shri Awardee Dr. KK Aggarwal – Honorary Secretary General IMA and President HCFI in a joint statement said, “The Indian Medical Association believes that doctors must do their bit to help reduce the environmental burden being faced by our country. For this reason we have sent out messages to all our local branches about the need to promote carpooling while attending CMEs and official meets. We will also be offering a special discount 10% discount to all those who come as a group for the CMEs. The rising pollution levels of our country are a mater of great concern for the medical fraternity as a whole. It’s impact on one’s health is profound and it in the long run can increase the incidence of life-threatening diseases such as cancer, COPD, heart disease, hypertension amongst others. It is thus imperative that each one of us takes necessary steps to bring down the pollution levels.

Carpooling is defined as two or more persons sharing their daily commute on a regular basis. Using fewer cars means less pollution, conservation of habitat, and less demand for new roads and parking lots. It is also an effective measure to ensure safety of women as well as to reduce the number of drinking and driving cases.

 Using fewer cars also means less production of greenhouse gases, a major contributor to climate change. Research suggests that an average carpooler carpools 3 days per week. The government has to incentivize high occupancy vehicles and discourage those with single passenger. For instance, in the US, high occupancy vehicles are allowed to use the fast lane. In addition tot his, preferential parking should be provided for high occupancy vehicles.

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 About IMA:  Indian Medical Association is the only representative, national voluntary organization of Doctors of Modern Scientific System of Medicine, which looks after the interest of doctors as well as the well being of the community at large. It has its Headquarter in Delhi and State / Terr. Branches in 29 States and Union Territories. It has over 2, 53,000 doctors as its members through more than 1650 active local branches spread across the country.