BMC peripheral, specialty and maternity hospitals request for conrtact renewal

BMC had scrapped 1,840 permanent posts which had been lying vacant for over three years, and now decides to terminate contract with no renewal, making it difficult to run many public hospitals

MUMBAI: The municipal corporation’s peripheral hospitals, specialty hospitals, and maternity homes are in the process of submitting written proposals requesting renewal of the contractual posts of doctors and technicians, in light of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) decision to terminate over 1,200 contractual positions starting November.

BMC peripheral, specialty and maternity hospitals request for conrtact renewal

BMC had scrapped 1,840 permanent posts, a major chunk of them being from the city’s public hospitals, which had been lying vacant for over three years. As these posts were vacant, hospitals employed contract staff in lieu of the permanent positions. With their cancellations and the termination of contract workers without renewal, peripheral hospitals, with over 800 of doctor and technician in contractual positions, stand to be the most affected. “If there are no doctors in our hospital, how will the hospital be run?” said a medical officer from MAA Hospital, Chembur. “We have been asked to submit written proposals to the deputy municipal commissioner in charge of health, requesting the contracts of doctors and technicians to be renewed, with a justification, and we will do so by today (Wednesday). The municipal commissioner will then take the decision.”

An officer from SK Patil Hospital in Malad also confirmed the 16 peripheral hospitals would be doing the same, although an official from the KMJ Phule Hospital in Vikhroli, which is under construction and currently functioning in a limited capacity, said it did not have a need for the posts currently.

Separately, a medical officer from the Sewri TB hospital said that all five specialty hospitals and maternity homes will be first sending their proposals to Daksha Shah, the executive health officer, who will then send a collective proposal to the DMC. “There are 81 positions in the TB hospitals which will be affected, of which 9 are doctors,” said the officer. “We are working on the proposal and will be sending it immediately.”

Sanjay Kurhade, deputy municipal commissioner in charge of health, confirmed receiving some written proposals, but that approvals would take time. “The proposals will be scrutinized and then decided upon. That won’t happen immediately,” he said.