NCR air quality falls to severe with dust storm
New Delhi, June 13: The National Capital Region (NCR) on Wednesday saw a sudden deterioration in air quality as the entire region was under the grip of dust bough through winds from Rajasthan, Iran and southern Afghanistan, officials said.
The dust raising winds, currently south-westerly and westerly, have been showing their effect since Tuesday and shall continue for next two days with the entire Uttar Pradesh coming under the grip by Thursday, IMD scientists told here.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, the Air Quality Index (AQI) on a scale of 0 to 500 for Delhi was "severe" at 445 against "poor" at 296 on Tuesday.
The AQI at Gurugram was 488, at Greater Noida 500, at Bhiwadi 483 and at Bulandshahr 500 -- all considered "severe".
"There was an anti-wind pattern towards Rajasthan, so the winds blowing about 30 to 40 kmph had bought the entire region, including Delhi, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan under the grip of dust," Kuldeep Srivastava, IMD scientist, told here.
He added that the situation will continue for the next two days.
"By midnight, entire Uttar Pradesh is likely to be under the grip of dust storm," Srivastava added.
According to private weather forecasting agency Skymet, the dust raising winds from the Iran and southern Afghanistan will continue till light rain showers bring respite to Delhi and adjoining regions towards on June 16 and 17.
"At present, the atmosphere from ground level till 20,000 feet has dust. This is due to the anti-cyclone formation in Iran and southern Afghanistan, since the winds are blowing at lower level and speed had been good, so there is still some clarity. Else the situation could have been worse," Mahesh Palawat, Director Skymet, told here.
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Jhansi fire: Nurse's heroic efforts helped save over dozen babies
Lucknow/Jhansi (UP), Nov 17: Nurse Megha James was on duty when the fire broke out at the Jhansi hospital and she threw herself headlong into the rescue efforts, playing a hero's role by saving several babies.
Even when her salwar got burned, she refused to give up and was able to evacuate 14-15 babies with others' help.
"I had gone to take a syringe to give an injection to a child. When I came back, I saw that the (oxygen) concentrator had caught fire. I called the ward boy, who came with the fire extinguisher and tried to put it out. But by then, the fire had spread," James said.
Ten babies perished in a fire that broke out at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi Friday night.
Faced with an enormous blaze, James's mind worked with a frenetic speed, to the extent she cared little about burning herself.
"My chappal caught fire and I burned my foot. Then my salwar caught fire. I removed my salwar and discarded it. At that time, my mind was virtually not working," she told PTI Videos.
James just wore another salwar and went back to the rescue operation.
"There was a lot of smoke, and once the lights went out, we could not see anything. The entire staff brought out at least 14-15 children. There were 11 beds in the ward with 23-24 babies," she said.
Had the lights not gone out they could have saved more children, James said. "It all happened very suddenly. None of us had expected it."
Assistant Nursing Superintendent Nalini Sood praised James's valour and recounted bits from how the rescue operation was carried out.
"The hospital staff broke the glasses of the NICU ward to evacuate the babies. It was then Nurse Megha's salwar caught fire. Instead of caring for her safety, she stayed there to rescue the babies and handed them over to people outside," she said.
Sood said James is currently undergoing treatment at the same medical college. She said she did not know the extent of her burns.
"The rescued babies were shifted to a ward very close to the NICU ward… When I recall the scene, I feel like crying," she said.
Dr Anshul Jain, the head of the anaesthesiology department at the medical college, explained the standard rescue operation and claimed the hospital followed the protocol to the T.
"In the triage process during an ICU evacuation, the policy is to evacuate less-affected patients first. The rationale behind this approach is that patients requiring minimal support can be relocated quickly, enabling a larger number of evacuations to be completed in a shorter time.
"In contrast, patients on ventilators or requiring high oxygen support demand more time and resources for evacuation," he said.
"This principle was successfully implemented in Jhansi, playing a significant role in saving many lives," Jain said.
A newborn rescued from the fire died due to illness on Sunday, Jhansi District Magistrate Avinash Kumar said.
