Bali Air Quality Continuing To Deteriorate

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Bali is celebrated for its natural beauty, yet, in recent years, a high number of people here have been treated for respiratory problems, which are reportedly caused by increasing air pollution on the island.

Pollution watchdog the Foundation of Focus on Bali in a report based on medical records from Sanglah public hospital here, said that air pollution in Bali, particularly in Denpasar, needed to be seriously addressed.

Foundation director Yuyun Ismawati, told a seminar here that the number of patients that suffered respiratory problems as a result of air pollution stood at around 6,000 a year from 2001 to 2003. In 2001, 6,364 people with respiratory problems were treated at the hospital. Manager of the hospital's medical records I Nengah Semadi, said patients attended the hospital two or three times on average for treatment.

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Data at the Bali Police's vehicle registration office shows that there are 1,158,057 motorized vehicles on the island. "About 628,929 of those are registered in Denpasar," the Bali Police's director of traffic Snr. Com. Soenardi said. According to Agus Saefudin, head of emission standard evaluation at the Ministry of the Environment, a vehicle, whether it is a sedan, a truck or a bus, emits a total of 7.2 tons of carbon monoxide and 0.88 tons of hydro carbon a year."

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