Dozens of healthcare facilities in Brussels overexposed to NO2

An estimated 25 healthcare facilities in Brussels are overexposed to nitrogen dioxide (NO2), according to data from SIRANE, the air quality modelling software developed by UCLouvain.

The affected facilities include hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and care homes, where NO2 concentrations are between two and three times higher than the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation.

Non-profit organisation Les Chercheurs d'Air, which has access to the data, is raising the alarm about the postponement to 2027 of a stricter Low Emissions Zone, calling it the most effective tool for rapidly and sustainably improving air quality in the Brussels region.

“We’re facing a health scandal,” said the organisation’s director, Pierre Dornier.

“Hospitals, clinics and nursing homes are places where people are supposed to be able to recover. Yet we are realising that the air we breathe there is probably polluted to levels that are dangerous to our health. The cure must not be worse than the disease."

In 2022, all of the 133 healthcare establishments in Brussels analysed by the SIRANE software were deemed too polluted with NO2.

One site has an average annual concentration more than three times higher than the WHO recommendation, and 25 sites are exposed to pollution levels between two and three times above the WHO threshold.

According to the WHO, "exceeding this threshold is associated with significant risks to public health".

Among the 25 establishments overexposed to NO2 are: the Lothier Polyclinic, the Saint-Jean Clinic’s Botanique site, the Saint-Jean Clinic’s Méridien site, the Basilique Clinic, Saint-Pierre University Hospital’s Alexiens/César de Paepe site, the Chirec Europe-Lambermont Medical Centre, and Saint-Pierre University Hospital’s Porte De Hal site.

These sites account for several hundred thousand admissions each year.

On 2 July, the Constitutional Court will hear a request to return to the original timetable for the Low Emissions Zone on the grounds that postponing it results in a significant negative impact on public health.