IQAir, an environmental literacy foundation, revealed that the PM2.5 concentration in Srinagar is currently 14.4 times above the WHO annual air quality guideline value, following a recent study on Kashmir’s deteriorating air quality in the context of patient health impacts. The foundation pointed out that Srinagar’s air was declared the 10th most polluted in the world by World Health Organization recently. Mudasir Ahmad Bhat, an environmental scientist and researcher based at the University of Kashmir, said, “During the cold months, our air is typically clean when we have precipitation episodes (rain or snow). However, at this time, breathing Srinagar’s air is equal to smoking 40 cigarettes a day.” The scientists involved in the air quality study agreed with Bhat’s views, and emphasised the risk posed by such depleting air quality to certain patient populations, saying that winters in Kashmir are particularly damaging for COPD patients.