Mumbai: The civic administration is seeking private partners to run two of its redeveloped hospitals in the suburbs, but the move has irked staff, union members and health activists.
The BMC, which operates over 25 hospitals with capacities ranging from 100 to 2,000 beds, floated tenders for these two public-private partnerships (PPPs) last week. The two hospitals are Bhagwati Hospital, an over 50-year-old entity in Borivli, and Lallubhai Compound Hospital in Mankhurd, which was built with needs of thousands of project-affected families in mind. (The Mankhurd building was constructed by MMRDA and will be handed over to BMC in Sept).
Apart from these two hospitals, BMC seeks PPP for the Punjabi Gali Diagnostic Centre in Borivli, said Dr Chandrakant Pawar, who is chief medical superintendent of peripheral hospitals. He mentioned that finer points on the PPP are still being worked out, but a senior official from the BMC HQ stated BMC would hand over two-thirds of the new hospitals to the private partner and manage a third as free or at highly subsidised rates.
Bhagwati Hospital’s capacity will rise from 110 beds to 490, with BMC managing 147. In Lallubhai Compound Hospital, 150 of 410 beds will be retained by BMC. “Our schemes, services, and patient costs will remain the same for designated public beds, with privatisation applying only to additional capacity,” said the official.
The move is being opposed by politicians from various parties. UBT Shiv Sena’s ex-Dahisar MLA, Vinod Ghosalkar, met the BMC commissioner over the “unacceptable” move. Comparing Bhagwati’s contribution to the suburbs to that of BMC’s KEM Hospital in Parel, he said expansion was needed to meet rising healthcare needs in the suburbs.
Ex-Mulund corporator Prakash Gangadhare is worried the newly renovated MT Agarwal Hospital in Mulund will meet the same fate. “I understand BMC is considering privatising the additional beds. We will not accept this,” he said. Chetan Kadam, ex-MNS corporator from Borivli East who is now with UBT Sena, signed Ghosalkar’s letter. “Why is BMC, a public service authority, looking at this as a revenue-making opportunity? Medical expenses are already unaffordable for the common man. Instead of doubling beds for them, BMC is pushing for privatisation,” Kadam said.
Ex-Congress corporator from Dahisar, Sheetal Mhatre, said, “Did BMC always intend to privatise this hospital after redevelopment? If so, it should have been transparent from the start,” she said.
