IN CONTEXT: Air pollution as a seasonal health emergency
Time for a preparedness package — From Singapore's haze subsidy to Pakistan's BHU protocol By Mukhtar Alam KARACHI: Every year, as winter approaches, Pakistan goes through a familiar cycle. Air Quality Index crosses 200 in Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Peshawar, Quetta and even Karachi. Schools debate closure, hospitals report a surge in cough, asthma, and burning eyes, and then, by February, we forget — until next October. We treat smog as weather. We should treat it as a seasonal health emergency. Recently, Singapore has reminded us how preparedness looks. Facing transboundary haze reportedly linked to regional peat fires that pushed its pollution index to unhealthy levels, its Ministry of Health activated the Haze Subsidy Scheme from Oct 12, 2026. Citizens can get treatment for seven haze-related conditions — asthma, bronchitis, COPD, allergic rhinitis, upper respiratory infection, conjunctivitis — at capped rates of S$10, S$5 for elderly, free for the po...