Don’t want to shut Wadia Hospital, says Mayor

A day after a blame game started between the civic body and the management of Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital of Children over the latter’s decision to stop admitting new patients owing to a fund crunch, Mayor Kishori Pednekar on Monday said they do not want the hospital to shut down and that the pending amount of ₹20 crore will be paid to them.

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The hospital, with more than 800 beds, is one of the largest children’s medical facilities in the city. Although the hospital is managed by a private trust, it has a collaboration with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which bears 85% of its operational costs. HT had reported in December that BMC hasn’t paid almost ₹200 crore to the hospital, while the former has claimed it owes them around ₹21 crore. The hospital had on Saturday issued a circular stating it will stop admitting new patients and also discharge in-patients owing to the fund crunch. Pednekar on Saturday said they will meet the hospital authorities to discuss the future course of action on Tuesday.“There is nothing like that this all is being done to shift the hospital...let me assure that there is no such plan. We want the hospital to operate,” she said.

BMC has claimed it found several irregularities in functioning of the hospital and will seek clarification from the management before taking action. According to BMC, it had given the land to the Wadia trust for running a 120-bed hospital in 1926, on condition that it will offer 50% of the total beds to the poor.

However, BMC has alleged that after the beds were increased, they were not informed. Apart from BMC, the state is also party to the agreement signed with the hospital. Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, BMC, said, “As per our preliminary probe, around 10 employees were getting pensions from both the Wadia hospitals. Six employees were drawing salaries from both hospitals.” Kakani added that they have not concluded anything yet. “We will take a final call on the findings after listening to what the hospital says on Tuesday.”

The civic body has also claimed that two BMC officials were supposed to be on the boards of both the hospitals, for which four names were nominated, but that they never heard back from the hospital. A statement issued by Wadia hospital on Monday, however, stated, “There are four members from BMC on the board of management for both hospitals along with that of government... and it is up to BMC who they want to appoint on the board.”

BMC also said the pending dues will be cleared after discussions with the management. The hospital’s statement stated: “BMC is to pay the outstanding dues of ₹31.44 crore to Nowrosjee Wadia Maternity Hospital and ₹105.85 crore to Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital. The matter is sub-judice before the high court ”