MUMBAI: On Tuesday, the Municipal Mazdoor Union (MMU) protested outside the civic-run Kasturba Hospital demanding that the BMC reconsider its decision to bring hospitals run by it under the public-private partnership (PPP) model. The civic body has issued tenders for this in two of its hospitals while a third one is in process.
On March 13, a 30-year tender for overall operations management of the 490-bed multispecialty Bhagwati Hospital in Borivali West was rolled out along with another tender for K B Bhabha hospital in Bandra West—the latter to run the superspecialty departments such as cardiology and MRI-CT scans. A tender for the operations of M T Agarwal municipal hospital is in process.
The letter sent on Monday from MMU to municipal commissioner Bhushan Gagrani, said, “We strictly oppose the implementation of the public-private partnership in hospitals, which will threaten the employment of the existing BMC staff and put the minimal cost treatment available to all in jeopardy.”
Ashok Jadhav, chairman of MMU, said that the BMC had told them that the current staff would be accommodated in other hospitals. “But eventually there will not be enough positions to accommodate us,” he said. “Also, the management of hospitals which have been redeveloped such as Bhagwati Hospital, Shatabdi Hospital and M T Agarwal Hospital are going under the PPP model. If they are to be run by private institutions, why did the BMC spend crores on their renovation?”
Jadhav said that they were protesting at all the hospitals individually “to explain the problems to the staff and highlight our grievances to the administration”. “In due time we will lead a full demonstration,” he added.
Bhabha municipal hospital in Bandra West has a newly constructed 11-storey building with ample space to increase the superspecialty wards. “The superspecialty departments like cardiology, blood banks with advanced technologies and equipment, along with the CT-MRI department, will be given out under the PPP model,” said a senior doctor from the hospital. “The private vendors will have their own staff and equipment, which will put limitations on us while running the facility.”
Concerns about the BMC’s move have been raised by senior doctors and workers’ associations after the failure of the PPP model in Seven Hills Hospital in Andheri East, which has a case pending in the Supreme Court. However, a civic official from the PPP department said that all the negative points from the Seven Hills experience had been studied thoroughly and a different type of model would now be implemented. “Henceforth, as and when there is space to implement the PPP model, we will go ahead with it,” he emphasised.
In the BMC budget presented in February this year, Gagrani had announced the implementation of the PPP model in hospitals to reduce operational costs and supposedly minimise out-of-pocket expenses for patients while ensuring sustainable healthcare operations.
Meanwhile political leaders like ex-BJP corporator Prakash Gangadhare and Vinod Ghosalkar, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA from Dahisar, also wrote to the BMC commissioner to register their protest.
