BMC to hire private doctors for 12 civic hospitals in Mumbai

Nearly 150 ICU beds of 12 hospitals, including Rajawadi hospital (Ghatkopar), Bhagwati hospital (Borivli), Bhaba hospital (Kurla) and MT Agarwal (Mulund), will have private medical staff.

Amid opposition, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s standing committee on Wednesday sanctioned a proposal to outsource services of private medical staff for nearly 150 intensive care unit beds in 12 hospitals in the suburbs at a cost of Rs23 crore. Patients, however, won’t have to pay for it.

Nearly 150 ICU beds of 12 hospitals, including Rajawadi hospital (Ghatkopar), Bhagwati hospital (Borivli), Bhaba hospital (Kurla) and MT Agarwal (Mulund), will have private medical staff. (FILE)

Nearly 150 ICU beds of 12 hospitals, including Rajawadi hospital (Ghatkopar), Bhagwati hospital (Borivli), Bhaba hospital (Kurla) and MT Agarwal (Mulund), will have private medical staff.

Members of the standing committee slammed the BMC administration accusing them of privatizing civic hospitals. After the proposal was sanctioned, the opposition parties walked out of the standing committee meeting. Ravi Raja, leader of Opposition, said, “Despite increasing the health budget upto nearly Rs3,000 crore, the administration has been unable to improve the infrastructure and get better medical staff for our hospitals. This clearly shows the inefficiency of BMC officials to give basic civic facilities. We discussed the proposal for more than an hour and decided to not outsource the work, however, the Shiv Sena passed the proposal without even considering our points.”

The administration clarified that there will be no increase in treatment cost for the patients.

The opposition parties, however, managed to reject another proposal which allowed outsourcing of medical staff of 52 ICU beds worth Rs8 crore.