Mumbai civic body to privatise suburban hospital services; low cost now limited to only 2 ration cards
The privatisation plans cover a hemodialysis centre for kidney patients, sonology services, the entire cardiology department with cath lab facilities, MRI and CT scan facilities, and even a blood bank for patients requiring transfusions. The hospitals include Dr Ambedkar Hospital in Kandivli, Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar, Bhabha Hospital in Bandra and Kurla, MT Agarwal in Mulund, and Bhagwati in Borivali.
The preamble of all these tenders states, "Public Private Partnership Project [will be] for the period of 30 years on a renewal basis after 10 years."
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For the first time, subsidised rates will be reserved only for yellow and orange ration card holders, as only these will be considered "BMC patients," according to the peripheral-hospital related tender documents. Previously, regardless of class, anyone could avail themselves of these services at affordable rates.
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The same conditions appear in PPP tenders for two newly constructed hospitals, one a new medical college on the Shatabdi Hospital campus in Govandi, and the other in Lallubhai Compound, Mankhurd. Both tenders have received multiple extensions due to insufficient bids. BMC scrapped full privatisation of Bhagwati Hospital only after MP Piyush Goyal intervened. "The other route now to privatise is by doing it one by one for individual services; this would avoid union or public anger," said a blood bank officer at a BMC hospital.
The official added, "It could benefit patients if the private partner does an honest job. But if not, it could risk lives, for instance, private blood banks tend to be involved in malpractices to save costs."
A medical superintendent of one suburban hospital said, "Some services are expensive for the BMC to run, and the biggest expense is manpower."
A coalition of civil and political groups, 'Aspatal Bachao, Nijikarn Hatao', has argued that civic hospitals are funded by public money and cost concerns cannot justify privatisation.
Demanding scrapping of PPP models and strengthening of existing hospitals, the group will hold its second round of protests on Aug 11.
Besides, initiatives involving a private player have backfired. This week, a trust hired to run the ICU at VN Desai Hospital employed a person whose medical degrees could not be confirmed by the Maharashtra Medical Council. In 2023, a charitable trust handling the ICU at MT Agarwal Hospital employed a homeopath, which led to 149 deaths in nine months.
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