Samuel |
: |
We started our research
because we were intrigued by what happened last year
during the October period. What we wish to find out
from you is more or less the health impacts. Through
our research, the survey we conducted and the interviews
we conducted, we gained much knowledge about haze.
In our survey, we found out that some people mentioned
that during the haze period, they complained of stomach
flu. What we would like to ask you is if it is possible
that haze causes the stomach flu. |
Doctor H |
: |
The answer is no. |
Ji Heng |
: |
Can you elaborate? |
Doctor H |
: |
Stomach flu is a very general
term, when someone comes to me and say that they have
stomach flu, there can be two things, one is food poisoning
that is causing the indigestion, pain, vomiting, diarrhea.
And this can be caused wither by food poisoning or
a virus. Some viruses, I can¡¯t really remember exactly
which ones, echo viruses, that cause an infection in
intestines and they have the same symptoms as food
poisoning is mainly pain, indigestion, vomiting, and
diarrhea, so normally with a virus infection, there
tend to be fever. Food poisoning, usually no. But sometimes,
it can cause a fever too. |
Samuel |
: |
For all other health problems,
like asthma, cough, flu, wheezing, are they all affected
by the haze? |
Doctor H |
: |
Yes, yes. So I think haze
in general tends to affect more of the respiratory
system, means the lungs, the nose, eyes is not the
respiratory system but it is exposed to the haze, thus
resulting in eye irritation. Nose irritation, throat
irritation, lung irritation, and skin. |
Samuel |
: |
Allergy? Eczema? How about
the heart? Like the heart chronic disease? |
Doctor H |
: |
Basically haze doesn¡¯t
cause any problems to the heart. But what happens is
if the person. Usually a person with heart disease
tends to have other illnesses such as asthma. They
may be smokers so they have some sort of lung impairment.
So when their lungs are stressed out by breathing difficulties
from haze, then it can affect the heart and put a strain
on the heart. And cause heart failure for example. |
Samuel |
: |
Then we would like to ask
you about your personal experiences as a doctor. So
during the last year¡¯s haze period or maybe the previous
years for the haze periods, did you receive an increase
in patients? |
Doctor H |
: |
Not
a lot. I think it depends on where you practice.
My area here, I mainly see more office workers. And
sort of families, we call it family practices. So
I didn¡¯t see a huge increase. I think the ones that
see the huge increase are the doctors that work more
in the hometown like HDB and clinics so on. More
people who are sick, they will go down and see a
doctor there straightaway. They are not going to
come all the way to work to see the company doctor
and then go back home. So I think those people tended
to see an increase in the incidents of haze related
illnesses. I didn¡¯t see that many. But I did see some
with a bit of coughing problems and nose problems,
we call it allergic ____________. A little bit of asthma,
skin problems, not really. |
Samuel |
: |
Then on the occasions that
you treated patients, what was the most common illness? |
Doctor H |
: |
Breathing problems like
asthma. Difficulty in breathing. |
Ji Heng |
: |
Now you see, this haze
is actually, during our research, we done lots of research,
and it was mentioned that this PM10, it actually affected
the growth of children¡¯s¡( interrupted) |
Doctor H |
: |
What is PM10? |
Us |
: |
Particulate Matter. |
Ji Heng |
: |
Can you explain to us how
does this actually happen? |
Doctor |
: |
Oh, actually I don¡¯t see
how it will affect the growth of lungs in children
unless it is over a very chronic exposure. |
Samuel |
: |
It is actually the growth
of lungs. |
Doctor |
: |
Oh, actually, I don¡¯t see
how it will affect the growth of lungs in children.
Maybe in babies. In the sense that they are not completely
developed yet, so when they get exposed to particulate
matter our or irritation, that may cause scarring of
the lungs. It may cause irritation that leads on to
infection like pneumonia. And pneumonia can cause damage
to the lungs so it won¡¯t stunt the growth of the lungs
but it may cause permanent damage to the lungs. If
these babies get infection. |
Samuel |
: |
What do you mean scarring
of the lungs? |
Doctor |
: |
For example, when you cut
your skin, there is a wound there, the wound heals
up and there is a scar there. We call it keloid tissue.
That keloid tissue is not almost skin. It is hard.
Same for lungs, when lungs are infected, it is actually
an injury. So when the lungs get damaged, it does not
repair itself. So that area of lungs doesn¡¯t work anymore.
SO to say. Its not that bad. When you look at the PSI
Index. There are a number of ranges. Below 50 is quite
sage. 50-100 is not so safe. Over 100, it can cause
damage and so on. |
Samuel |
: |
What precautionary measures
would you suggest that the people during the haze period?
Then, specifically what measures for those with different
illnesses like eye irritation or heart chronic. |
Doctor H |
: |
It is very hard to protect
yourself from the haze because it is all over the place.
The only sure way of protection is to stay home. Close
the windows and get a very special filter called HEPA
filter. That filters off particles from the air. Otherwise,
there is no other way we can completely protect ourselves
from the haze. The precautions you can take¡ For example,
you have very bad allergic problems, eye problems,
sinus problems or asthma, try to work indoors. For
people who are more prone to asthma attacks, there
are medicines you can use. They are called inhalers.
They prevent asthma attacks. Some patients if they
do not have any complications or any secondary illnesses
like asthma and so on. Theoretically, they shouldn¡¯t
be affected. I think the main thing is to try to avoid
exposure whatever means you can. Staying at home or
in the office. Using a mask will help to some degree. |
Ji Heng |
: |
I would like to ask a question,
it¡¯s not listed here (questions paper). When people
come to you and you see most working people. Do they
have any infections during the haze period? Do you
actually give them advice what they should they take
or what should they buy. |
Doctor H |
: |
I think the advice is basically
quite general. Again, I said avoid the haze if you
can. And then are medicines they can use to help reduce
irritations or sinus irritation or asthma. |
Ji Heng |
: |
Just now you said wearing
a mask. Wearing a mask, many people would find it uncommon,
so when you walk on the streets with a mask, everyone
would be looking at you. Do you think there are any
alternatives to this? What other things can they do
other than wearing a mask when outside? |
Doctor H |
: |
There isn¡¯t much they can
do. Being outside with the haze around you. There isn¡¯t
much you can do to not inhale the dust.? |
Samuel |
: |
When one wears a mask,
if I am not mistaken, our research mentioned that if
worn for more than a few hours, there will be breeding
of bacteria. How many hours would you recommend them
to wear before changing the mask. |
Doctor H |
: |
Not really a few hours.
Actually within a few minutes. Once the mask becomes
wet. Usually within 15 minutes. The efficiency of filtering
bacteria reduces. Once you breathe and condense the
mask, it becomes ineffective. |
Samuel |
: |
During the haze period,
the government would more or less advice children,
the elderly and people with respiratory and heart problems
to stay home. Why is this so? Why does the government
not advise working adults? |
Doctor H |
: |
I think what they are trying
to say is to advise people who are more prone to getting
complications to stay at home. So it is the very young,
the babies. The very old who may have some other health
complications. |
Samuel |
: |
Just now, you mentioned
HEPa Filter, what does it stand for? |
Doctor H |
: |
I
think it stands for High Efficient Particulate Filter.
And during that period, you would notice that places
like Best Denki selling many brands of air filters.
They are basically taking advantage of the situation
to earn money. Air purifiers basically work only in
enclosed areas. Like for example a room with closed
doors. This is because nothing comes in or out (bacteria
or particles) of the room. |
Samuel |
: |
Other than the circulatory
and respiratory system, what other systems are affected? |
Doctor H |
: |
Any
system that is exposed to the air. And like I said,
haze contains chemicals, which may damage lining of
lungs and lining of blood vessels. If it damages the
lungs, it will also damage the immune system. |
