Hong Kong (AsiaNews) – Rising pollution levels are responsible for the death of at least 10,000 people and 440,000 hospital bed days in Hong Kong, Macao and southern China, a study released today in Hong Kong by the Civic Exchange Institute found.
“We estimate that there are about 10,000 deaths occurring which are attributable to daily pollution, deaths which are potentially avoidable,” said Anthony Hedley, a professor in the Department of Community Medicine at Hong Kong University, who was part of the team conducting the study.
Air pollution is also responsible for 440,000 hospital bed days and 11 million doctor visits each year.
The price of pollution has been put at 6.7 billion yuan (US $ 968 million) every year in health costs and productivity losses.
From this point of view the fight against pollution is a “matter of life and death” for the affected regions of Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong, which might lose out to Singapore in terms of competitiveness.
Improving air quality in the former British Crown colony is serious business. The Territory’s Chief Executive, Donald Tsang, has pledged results by 2012; also thanks to help from mainland China, for whom the problem is no less serious in view of the upcoming Olympic Games.