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GOVERNMENTOFINDIA
MINISTRYOFHEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE
DEPARTMENTOFHEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE
RAJYASABHA
UNSTARREDQUESTION NO. 1208
TO BE ANSWERED ON10THFEBRUARY, 2026
SURGE IN RESPIRATORYMEDICINESALES ANDPUBLIC HEALTH IMPACT
OFAIR POLLUTION
1208Ms. SUSHMITADEV:
Will the Ministerof HEALTH AND FAMILYWELFAREbe pleasedtostate:
(a) whether Government has taken note of reports indicating a record surge in sales of
respiratory medicines, crossing ₹1,950 crore in December 2025, with sustained year-on year
increasesduring high-pollutionmonths;
(b) whether Government acknowledges that such sharp increases in sales of anti-asthma,
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and allergy medications reflecta worsening
air-pollution-linked public healthburdenratherthanmere seasonal illness;
(c) whether any official study or epidemiological assessment has been conducted to establish
a direct correlation between air pollution levels and rising respiratory morbidity and deaths;
and
(d) the number of pollution-related respiratory illnesses and deaths reported annually during
the last five years, State-wise?
ANSWER
THE MINISTER OFSTATE IN THE MINISTRYOFHEALTH AND FAMILY
WELFARE
(SMT.ANUPRIYAPATEL)
(a)to(d): As informed by the Department of Pharmaceuticals, based on the market data
available with the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) through the
Pharmarack database, the sales values of medicines (both scheduled and non-scheduled
formulations) pertaining to the therapeutic category “Respiratory System” for the month of
December2025is₹1952.92 crore.And the yearonyear sales value isasfollows:
Month Total sales value in2024 (₹crore) Total sales value in2025(₹crore)
(Calendaryear) (Calendaryear)
Total 17199.40 18912.64Thesales value isbased onPrice-to-Retailer (PTR)ascaptured by Pharamarack.
There is no conclusive data available in the country to establish direct correlation of
death/ disease exclusively due to air pollution. Air pollution is one of the triggering factors
for respiratory ailments andassociated diseases. Health effects of air pollution are synergistic
manifestationof factorswhich include food habits, occupationalhabits, socioeconomic status,
medicalhistory, immunity, heredity, etc.of the individuals.
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has informed that it has conducted a
multisite study to document acute effect of increase in air pollution on respiratory morbidity.
It was conducted at 5 sites. A total 33,213 (12.6%) of total Emergency Room patients were
eligible and were enrolled with complete data collection. Analysis suggests that increase in
pollution levels was associated with increase in number of patients attending emergency
rooms. However, thisstudy design cannotprovide confirmationthat the association iscausal.
The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) conducts sentinel surveillance of
Air Pollution related illnesses through the network of more than 230 sentinel surveillance
sites spanning across 30 States/UTs. Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) digital surveillance
was started inAugust 2023through IntegratedHealth InformationPortal(IHIP).
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