BMC’s Aapli Chikitsa diagnostics centres shut or reports delayed | Mumbai news - Hindustan Times
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BMC’s Aapli Chikitsa diagnostics centres shut or reports delayed

BySomita Pal & Jeet Mashru
Mar 18, 2023 01:00 AM IST

Mumbai: Aapli Chikitsa (Your diagnosis) — rolled out four years ago to provide Mumbai citizens basic and advanced pathology tests at a subsidised rate — has hit a rough patch after many centres, which are supposed to collect samples, remained shut despite a new contractor being appointed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corportation (BMC) on March 6

Mumbai: Aapli Chikitsa (Your diagnosis) — rolled out four years ago to provide Mumbai citizens basic and advanced pathology tests at a subsidised rate — has hit a rough patch after many centres, which are supposed to collect samples, remained shut despite a new contractor being appointed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corportation (BMC) on March 6.

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HT Image

Aapli Chikitsa was rolled out in 2019 by the BMC with another private laboratory. According to the civic body, the contract to conduct these tests was awarded to Krsnaa Diagnostics Ltd after their previous contract ended this year.

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Apart from most of the centres being shut, the Aapli Chikitsa centres that are functional have been facing non-delivery of pathology reports for days leading to agitated patients complaining at the centre. With series of complaints since the handover, BMC said they have been conducting various meetings with the contractor to fix the issue.

Dr Mangala Gomare, executive health officer, BMC said they have been holding regular review meetings with Krsnaa Laboratory and trying to coordinate and give them feedback but the issues have not been sorted out till date.

“As per our discussion, we have given them a list of our facilities (190 dispensaries, 107 HBT clinics, all BMC-run maternity homes and special hospitals) where they have to place their phlebotomist. They agreed but till date, have not submitted us a report in how many centres they have placed their phlebotomist,” she said.

Dr Gomare added that they have received complaints that there are delays in patients getting their pathology reports. “We have received complaints like five out of 10 pathology test reports have been given and the rest are delayed. We can say half of the reports are delayed. We have asked the lab about the reasons for the delay but have not received any reply,” said Dr Gomare.

There are 139 tests that can be done at these centres, of which 101 tests are basic and 38 tests are advanced tests. Under the scheme, the corporation outsources laboratory testing for all maternity homes, peripheral hospital and dispensaries to the private laboratory. Citizens can avail basic tests at the cost of 50 and advanced tests at the cost of 100 from these centres.

Ataul Khan, a social activist from Dharavi, said, “Previously, the collection staff would say it will take three days for the reports to arrive, but now, there are patients lining up outside these centres saying their reports have been delayed for five to six days.”

When HT visited one of the centres in central suburbs, a technician working in Aapli Chikitsa quoted two reasons for the delay in preparing the diagnostic reports of the patients.

“The technicians faced found it challenging to feed the data and create profiles of the patients in the system because of which when the collected blood samples reached main processing centre, there were no patient records. This caused the delay. Those who did not feed the data in the system now have to visit Dombivli, our Mumbai headquarter, to manually feed patient details. The technical problem is getting resolved,” said the technician.

The person added that since the processing centre is in Dombivli, it is also taking time. “There are plans to start another processing unit in Gorai.”

Former BJP corporator and former standing committee member of BMC, Prabhakar Shinde also said that he had warned the BMC about the lower prices quoted by the bidding laboratory and the potential for mismanagement. “We have been warning the administration about the mismanagement of the Aapli Chikitsa centres and yet, they have been careless about it,” he said.

In a letter sent by Shinde to the municipal commissioner and administrator Iqbal Chahal in January, Shinde had said “I have been given to understand that in the current tenders/expression of interest (EOI) floated by the BMC for operating the Aapli Chikitsa scheme, two companies have qualified and one of them, Krsnaa Diagnostics has turned out to be the company offering the lowest rates. I’m told that compared to the second bidder and even compared to the existing rates, the rates offered by the L1 (lowest bidder) qualified company is lower by over 50%.”

He added that while in the ongoing contract, companies were charging the BMC over 200 per person for diagnostic testing, in the current tenders, the company had offered a rate of just around 86.”

“BMC must also put in place a mechanism of tough checks and balances including a surprise inspection mechanism so that the tests are offered to citizens easily and their reports are also received on time, with high accuracy,” Shinde had pointed out in the letter.

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