Physician tells actor Ezzatollah Entezami to leave capital due to air pollution

TEHRAN,Nov.29(MNA) -- Ezzatollah Entezami’s doctor has said that he must leave Tehran because of the past few days of shockingly bad air pollution in the capital. “Due to the air pollution in Tehran and its negative impact on Mr. Entezami’s health, he must leave the capital to settle in a city in the northern Iranian provinces, which enjoy clean air,” Sami’ian told on Tuesday. The 89-year-old Iranian actor was admitted to the CCU of the Farmanieh Hospital last week on Thursday due to respiratory problems. State Welfare Organization of Iran Director Homayun Hashemi, the Tehran City Council’s Health Committee Director Rahmatollah Hafezi, and a number of his colleagues, visited Entezami at the hospital. “The air pollution in Tehran has been turned into a big problem,” Entezami told the visitors. He called on the high ranking officials to find a solution for the problem. Hafezi said that, based on an official figure, 2700 people die annually of air pollution in Tehran. Air Quality Control Company Managing Director Yusef Rashidi said in a TV program in October that Tehran citizens breathed clean air only two days since the beginning of this Iranian year on March 21. In addition, Tehran City Council member Masud Solatanifar previously said that, based on a survey carried out by the organization in charge of Tehran’s main cemetery, Behesht Zahra Cemetery, the death rate of people suffering from respiratory and heart diseases shows a dramatic increase during days with high pollution levels. Iran’s Transport and Fuel Management Office Director Mohammad Royanian said on November 9 that the number of vehicles has doubled over the past four years. He said that over three million vehicles and about two million motorcycles are currently active in Tehran.