A Canadian national who had been facing issue with breathing has been reportedly diagnosed with what is being called the first case of a patient suffering from “climate change". Doctors examining the patient have said heatwaves and bad air quality are to be blamed for the latter’s health condition. The patient is a senior citizen from Canada’s British Columbia province has an underlying condition of asthma but Dr Kyle Merritt, the consulting doctor said this was the first time in over 10 years he used the phrase climate change while writing up the patient’s diagnosis, Times Colonist, a Canadian daily reported.
Along with battling the pandemic, Canada faced one of the worst heatwaves ever in June that was followed by smog filled skies caused due to wildfires, worsening the climate further and further. The female patient, who lives in a trailer and is in her seventies, was diagnosed soon after the heatwaves stuck which Dr Merritt says ended up worsening her frail health.
“She has diabetes. She has some heart failure. She lives in a trailer with no air conditioning. All of her health problems have all been worsened. And she’s really struggling to stay hydrated," Dr Merritt was quoted as saying.
Dr Merritt says there’s a strong need to identify and sort out the underlying cause rather than just the treat patients’ symptoms.
British Columbia suffered terrible heatwaves conditions in June ended up causing 500 deaths and the air quality worsened over 40 times more than what is normally acceptable for the next 2-3 months, reports said. More recently, the annual Lancet countdown study has found that more Canadians than ever before are facing serious health risks arising out of heat waves and wildfires. The heatwave lasted several weeks and it was followed by the town of Lytton in B.C. destroyed by a fire. The study also found the heatwaves to have caused 570 deaths in Canada and hundreds more in the US.
Coming back to the patient diagnosed with ‘climate change’, Dr Merritt’s finding ended up local doctors in the area to come together to launch an initiative called Doctors and Nurses for Planetary Health.
The website says the team is a group of healthcare professional “working to better human health by protecting the planet."
This also comes at the heels of the COP26 summit in Glasgow where activists, environmentalists have urged world leaders to ensure stricter ways to check on climate change.
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