Latest news with #AapliChikitsa
Hindustan Times
01-08-2025
- Health
- Hindustan Times
BMC relaunches Aapli Chikitsa scheme after seven-month pause
MUMBAI: The civic administration will relaunch its Aapli Chikitsa Yojana, a subsidised diagnostic testing scheme, on Friday. It will be available across 100 municipal health facilities, after a seven-month pause. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is also aiming to launch the service in all civic-run hospitals by August 15. BMC relaunches Aapli Chikitsa scheme after seven-month pause The scheme will provide blood testing facilities to citizens at nominal rates through an external source in the institutions from where it operates. Reports will be sent to citizens via WhatsApp. According to civic officials, the scheme will cover both basic and advanced tests at dispensaries, polyclinics and 30 civic-run maternity hospitals, Dr RN Cooper Hospital, HBT Trauma Care Centre and 16 suburban hospitals, five specialty hospitals, and all municipal hospitals from wards A to E. It will cover 83 tests – 66 basic tests and 17 advanced tests – available in health institutions run by the state government. 'The tests were included in the scheme based on recommendations from an expert committee. The BMC will collect the patient data and information, and formulate the results after uploading the information on a Health Information Management System (HIMS),' said a civic official. This will help to directly relay the report to patients via WhatsApp, said the official. The BMC had rolled out the scheme in 2019, significantly improving access to these diagnostic services. However, after 18 months, the firm contracted to manage the scheme for four years, Krsnna Diagnostics, encountered problems in operating the scheme, disrupting services in many hospitals. The scheme was shut down on December 15, 2024. The corporation failed to appoint a new contractor until now. Lifenity health will be the new service provider for the scheme, selected via a tender. 'It is good that the BMC has re-launched the scheme but they must ensure that medicines and healthcare staff must be present as per requirements, without having to rely entirely on paramedics. Due to the monsoon upsurge in illnesses, there is an urgent need for accessible health care at nominal costs,' said health economist Dr Ravi Duggal.
Time of India
24-06-2025
- Health
- Time of India
BMC's subsidised diagnostic testing programme Aapli Chikitsa set to restart soon in Mumbai
Mumbai: While the incidence of monsoon diseases is rising in the city, the BMC's subsidised diagnostic testing programme will take a few more weeks to become operational again. "Our Aapli Chikitsa programme is on the verge of being finalised. We need a week or so to get it operational," confirmed deputy municipal commissioner Sharad Ughade. The scheme lapsed in Dec 2024 after the BMC failed to appoint a new agency to carry out diagnostic tests after the old contract expired. In April, a Pune-based company, Lifenity Health Ltd, emerged as the lowest bidder in the BMC's tender process, offering a rate of Rs 90 against the estimated cost of Rs 100 for basic tests. The final decision will be made within a week, Ughade said. The BMC subsidised tests — nearly 100 basic and 40 advanced tests — by paying the difference to the empaneled company. The previously empaneled company, Krsnaa Diagnostics, offered a rate of Rs 86 for basic tests. You Can Also Check: Mumbai AQI | Weather in Mumbai | Bank Holidays in Mumbai | Public Holidays in Mumbai A senior BMC official said the scheme should be back within a month. BMC executive health officer Dr Daksha Shah said tests are still being conducted at free or subsidised rates for patients visiting BMC healthcare centres and hospitals. Regarding reports of a few suburban hospitals lacking the quick-test Elisa kits used for the detection of various diseases, including dengue, an official said: "Even if there is a shortage of Elisa kits, hospitals can collect blood samples and send them for testing at our lab in Kasturba Hospital. "
Hindustan Times
11-06-2025
- Health
- Hindustan Times
Aapli Chikitsa in limbo amid early monsoon
MUMBAI: The monsoon has only just arrived in Mumbai but the city's public health infrastructure is already under strain. Exposing a critical gap in preparedness is the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) suspended public diagnostic scheme, Aapli Chikitsa ('Your Diagnosis'). Under the scheme, the BMC plans to roll out diagnostic services at 498 civic health institutions—including 440 HBT clinics, 30 maternity homes, three urban health centres, five specialty hospitals, 16 suburban hospitals, and its four major hospitals in Mumbai. Launched in 2019 as a flagship initiative to provide free or low-cost diagnostic tests at municipal health centres, Aapli Chikitsa has been non-operational at a time when seasonal illnesses are beginning to surge. It has been shut since December 15 last year. The scheme had significantly improved access to tests such as Complete Blood Count (CBC), blood sugar and urine analysis for citizens, particularly those from low-income backgrounds who depend on local dispensaries. The disruption began after Krishna Diagnostics, the private firm contracted for four years, hit its financial and test volume ceiling within just 18 months. Since then, the BMC has failed to appoint a new vendor, severely compromising diagnostic services across the city's 24 administrative wards. With the onset of the monsoon, common ailments such as fever, diarrhoea and respiratory infections are on the rise. However, the absence of local diagnostic facilities has forced patients to rely on private laboratories they can ill-afford. Farida Shaikh, a domestic worker from Kurla, said her son had a stomach infection and high fever. 'The clinic gave him medicines but told us to go to Sion Hospital for tests. I lost a day's work just for this,' she said. Pramod Jadhav, a retired school teacher from Dahisar, expressed similar concerns. 'My wife is diabetic and hypertensive. We used to get monthly tests done at the local civic clinic. Now we've been told to go to a Kandivali municipal hospital. It's far, tiring, and private labs are expensive,' he said. Adding to the frustration is the BMC's delayed procurement process. A new tender floated on January 21 was abruptly cancelled in March, without explanation. A revised tender was issued on March 13, but three months on, the contract remains in limbo. A civic official said the tender is in its final approval stage, although even after it is finalised, the new service provider would require at least a month to mobilise staff, set up equipment and resume operations. Health economist Dr Ravi Duggal stressed the urgency of restoring these services. 'The very foundation of primary healthcare relies on timely diagnosis. Even if the full panel of 100 tests isn't feasible right away, at least 15 to 20 core tests—like CBC, urine and blood sugar—must be made available immediately. Without them, dispensaries become mere prescription counters. In the context of rising dengue, leptospirosis and other monsoon-linked diseases, this delay could prove dangerous. The BMC must act swiftly; this is no less than a public health emergency.' Despite phone calls and text messages, Vipin Sharma, additional commissioner (health), BMC, did not respond.
Time of India
24-04-2025
- Health
- Time of India
BMC's subsidised diagnostic tests scheme all set to restart
Mumbai: After a gap of four months, the civic administration could soon restart its ambitious Aapli Chikitsa programme to provide diagnostic tests for free or at subsidised rates to citizens. Lifenity Health Ltd , headquartered in Pune and with a laboratory in Lower Parel, has emerged as the lowest bidder in the BMC's tender process, offering a rate of Rs 90 against the estimated cost of Rs 100 for basic tests. The BMC subsidises these tests—nearly 100 basic tests and 40 advanced tests—by paying the difference to the empanelled company. The previously empanelled company, Krsnaa Diagnostics, had a rate of Rs 86 for basic tests. However, their nearly two-year tenure was marred by delays in handing over patients' diagnostic reports, disrupted service in many hospitals, as well as protests over BMC's alleged delays in clearing dues. This time around, a senior BMC official said, the rates were better discussed. "Against an estimated cost of Rs 376, we got a bid for Rs 495 for the advanced tests," he said. The official mentioned that the appointment of a contractor would be finalised soon as there is an "urgent requirement" to get the diagnostic process operational again in the city ahead of the monsoons. Over 4,000 blood samples would be collected every day on average by the Aapli Chikitsa contractor from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's public healthcare machinery—ranging from dispensaries, HBT or mohalla clinics, to suburban hospitals. Infectious diseases such as malaria, leptospirosis, gastroenteritis, hepatitis, and dengue are among the most commonly conducted tests in monsoons. This time around, the BMC received two bids for the tender—one from Lifinity and another from Thyrocare Lab. Samajwadi Party MLA and former BMC corporator Rais Shaikh said that the Aapli Chikitsa scheme is much needed and the municipal corporation should have ensured that a new contractor was appointed long before the earlier contract expired. "When the authorities knew that the contract was ending, they should have ensured that there is a new contractor in place. This gap with free diagnostic service only impacts citizens," Shaikh said. However, officials of the BMC denied that patients were affected by the delay in restarting the subsidised tests scheme. The old contract ended on December 15, 2024, but the BMC rolled out a standard operating procedure to get the tests done in-house. "The BMC invited bids and received bids from two diagnostic companies but could not finalise a company and award the contract as the companies failed to negotiate a lower price with the BMC," said an official. In the previous tender, Krsnaa Diagnostics was awarded the contract by the BMC for four years. But the total quantity of tests was fixed, and this amount got exhausted, effectively ending the contract. A public health expert said that the rates mentioned in the BMC's tender documents are not feasible to conduct basic tests. "Even if the costs of testing are low, how does one account for salaries of phlebotomists and paramedical workers at such low rates? Delays and protests are likely to continue," said the doctor, who didn't want to be identified.
