Every winter, 14-year-old Aahan Bhalla has to give up on his passion — cricket. As the smog descends on Delhi — and the AQI (air quality index) shoots past 300 — he is left wheezing and breathing hard in the middle of the game. He has been living with asthma for several years now. He religiously takes his inhaler and nasal drops, a routine now followed by his eight-year-old sister, an asthmatic who keeps waking up at night if she’s not on the inhaler. Visiting doctors’ clinics are now part of their winter routine.

They are not alone. Inside the paediatric OPD at AIIMS, Delhi , Dr Kana Ram Jat, professor, Pulmonology, Intensive Care, Tuberculosis and Infectious Diseases, has his hands full with children, most of them restless and drained after severe coughing bouts. Many of them are regu

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