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Over 100 cases of breathing discomfort, giddiness reported among people pandal-hopping
Huge crowds in the city centre area, and high noise levels are the main causes of such health issues, say doctors involved in the medical team
A medical team set up by the Pune police ‘Vignaharta Nyas,’ near the prominent Ganesh pandals in the city centre area, has received at least 60 cases of breathing discomfort and 40 cases of giddiness September 13 to 15.
Huge crowds in the city centre area, and high noise levels are the main causes of such health issues, say doctors involved in the medical team.
This year with increased social media influence and weekend holiday resulted in significant increase in the number of visitors for the prominent Ganesh pandals in the central part of the city. As the number of visitors increased, and a multitude of people were standing in a queue for several hours in front of Ganesh pandals to get darshan and with loud music playing around, many people experienced several health issues.
Dr Milind Bhoi, trustee, Pune Police Vignaharta Nyas, said, “Every year we set up a medical team on the day of Visarjan. But this year, we have received significant cases with health issues since Friday. Due to the huge crowd coming into the city for the last two days, many devotees are experiencing dizziness, vertigo and suffocation.”
“While the number of children with health issues was higher, several adults and senior citizens also experienced health issues like blood pressure and dizziness. There are at least 100 cases of missing children also reported to us. For this, Pune Police Vighnaharta Nyas has started emergency medical service near Lakshmibai Dagdusheth Halwai Datta Mandir Trust from Sunday.”
“On Visarjan day, we will be appointing four ambulances, four temporary health centers and several medical teams enroute the procession,” he said.
