Physicians identify diseases by carefully noticing the symptoms, and this process is termed Diagnosis. Dr Kyle Merritt, a doctor in the Canadian Province of British Columbia, recently diagnosed a 70-year-old female patient with Climate Change! Although the patient has breathing problems, the doctor did not mention Asthma or Lung disease in his medical report. Rather, as per his Diagnosis, the area where the patient lives has experienced more than 1600 wildfires in the past 12 months. In fact, British Columbia was hit by the hottest and deadliest of the heatwaves in the country’s history. This was closely followed by wildfires, which left behind a thick smoke across the province. The air quality levels quickly deteriorated, becoming 43 times worse than acceptable levels. Due to this natural disaster, there has been a rise in temperature, and it led to the patient’s breathing problems. Dr Merritt found the 70-year-old’s existing conditions had worsened after examining her at the end of the summer. He was of the opinion that the disease was curable under normal circumstances. However, the Climate Change made it difficult for him to treat the patient.

In a rare first, a patient has been diagnosed with Climate Change in the world. It is amazing to hear, hard to believe, and terrible to think. The Global Community is aware of the fact that Climate Change is causing various problems in the world, and experts are holding conferences to discuss the issue. However, no one had any idea that it would find its place in a health report. Dr Merritt has claimed that record heatwaves recently increased the number of diabetic, asthma and heart patients.

Rising temperatures and heatwaves are natural phenomena. However, no one can deny the fact that human intemperance and misuse of natural resources have rendered the natural unnatural. Nature has started taking its revenge on human health. According to the Canadian physician, it has become important for doctors not only to identify external symptoms, but also to find the underlying cause of those symptoms, otherwise, Medical Science would fail to tackle the impact of Climate Change on human health.

Perhaps, Physicians might start mentioning Climate Change or Air Pollution, next to Coronavirus or Bacterial Infection, as the cause of disease in their patients’ health reports, some day. However, even if their diagnosis is true, the Administration, Government or State might not allow Physicians to write it down on prescriptions. It is because they have a responsibility to protect the Environment, Nature and Climate, and they have failed to fulfill that responsibility. The States’ failure to tackle Climate Change could prompt them to take actions against physicians for telling the Truth. Physicians may be asked not to mention Climate Change as the cause of the disease in near future. Till then, the new disease can potentially spread worldwide, and, no vaccine has been discovered to tackle this disease, as yet.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das