Residents plan protest against privatisation of public healthcare in Mumbai M East ward
Mumbai: Amid growing opposition to the privatisation of public healthcare in Mumbai's M East ward, residents gathered with health activists and union members on Wednesday to plan their way out of it.
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The community meeting, which drew residents from neighbourhoods like Sathe Nagar, Baiganwadi, and Buddha Nagar in Mankhurd and Govandi, concluded with plans to mobilise around 200 people to protest at the ward office and meet M East Ward officials by the end of the month.
Jyoti Chavan, from Baiganwadi, said her grandmother was moved from Shatabdi Hospital to Rajawadi after a stroke because Shatabdi's ICU was shut.
"Shatabdi is the closest to me, why do I need to run from one hospital to the other?" she asked.
Others, like Buddha Nagar's Lila Sable, said that public hospitals, despite their issues, are the only affordable option for most.
BMC decided to go ahead with a public-private partnership (PPP) model in M East Ward, even after scrapping similar plans elsewhere due to pressure from Union minister Piyush Goyal. The plan covers two new hospitals: a 580-bed teaching hospital on the Shatabdi campus and the 410-bed Lallubhai Compound Hospital.
Of the latter, only 150 beds will remain under BMC control. There have been insufficient bidders so far to move ahead with the process.
These facilities were promised as fully public services to the ward's 8 lakh residents, who have an average monthly income of Rs 7,800.
Sanjana Athavle from Mumbai Mahapalika Nurses Union said, "We were promised multi-specialty public care. Instead, it's going the way of Seven Hills Hospital, where the municipal part has almost disappeared."
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Health advocacy group Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA) has joined in the agitation. "In the 20 projects involving private players, we've seen consistent breakdowns in service," said JSA co-convenor Dr Abhay Shukla.
Activists from Jan Haq Sangharsh Samiti and Revolutionary Workers Party of India are now working to form a broader coalition to demand the scrapping of PPP, filled vacancies in existing hospitals, and adequate medicine stocks.
There will be a larger public hearing with the residents where further grievances will be taken into consideration.
Samajwadi Party's Mumbai and state president, MLA Abu Azmi, who represents Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar, earlier told TOI, "We support the PPP initiative. Bringing private partnership will help run the hospital efficiently; they know how to manage large facilities. The existing BMC or govt hospitals are frequently in a bad state."
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