Your space: PMC’s health facilities hospitalised

Should municipal corporations run civic hospitals? Hospital buildings constructed at enormous cost to the public exchequer on prime public property are empty, wasted and uncared for while the poor suffer for want of better healthcare facilities. Are overburdened civic bodies capable of running hospitals? Here’s what our readers have to say...

Wastage of taxpayers’ money

The empty floors of the six-storeyed Bindumadhav Thackeray hospital in Karvenagar are being used as classrooms by ‘Swanad’ a special school for deaf children. (Ravindra Joshi/HT PHOTO)

It is ironic that while Pune is progressing on all other fronts, eight civic hospitals are not functioning to their full capacity. For the common man, civic hospitals are the only affordable option for medical treatment. Civic administration needs to provide these health facilities to them. If civic hospitals are built using crores of rupees and are not utilised to their full potential, it is a waste of the taxpayers’ money and failure on the part of the civic body for not paying attention to the common man’s needs. If these hospitals are run properly, it will be a boon to the common public.

-Maya Hemant Bhatkar

PMC needs to overhaul its recruitment policy for healthcare

For many years, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has criminally neglected recruiting doctors and other human resources to run healthcare facilities at its hospitals. Instead of paying attention to the recruitment mechanism, corporators and the administration are more interested in the lucrative business of constructing new hospital buildings. PMC has become a contractor’s hub and den of corruption. There is poor coordination between the department which constructs these buildings and the health department which runs these facilities. The proposal to recruit 120 specialist doctors is pending with the state government for months. Besides that, PMC needs to overhaul its recruitment policy for healthcare and improve its work culture. The current work culture and recruitment policy is not conducive for highly qualified human resources like a specialist doctor. However, PMC can recruit a good number of specialists if they take adequate measures. Unfortunately, PMC has turned a blind eye towards the reform in the healthcare recruitment policy.

- Dr Abhijit More

Classroom Bindumadhav Thackeray hospital in Karvenagar. (Ravindra Joshi/HT PHOTO)

State must allocate sufficient budget

It is the state’s responsibility to provide healthcare to all citizens, as per Article 47 of the directive principles of the Indian Constitution. In 1982, the Krishnan committee had given details about how urban health centres should run in order to provide health services and the key role civic bodies have to play in it. The state of Maharashtra must ensure sufficient budget for the running of these municipal hospitals and it’s in the interest of state, to fulfil these responsibilities.

- Amulya Nidhi

Lack of financial funds

The reason such hospitals lie vacant is due to the lack of financial resources. The government constructs the hospital buildings, but is unable to run it, mainly because of lack of proper financial procurement. In such cases, hospitals are given to the private medical companies, who run it for profit and the whole idea of affordable healthcare goes for a toss. The solution is to allot minimum 3% budgetary funds for healthcare and conduct proper financial planning to increase public sector hospitals.

-Manoj Oswal

Run hospitals in partnership with private players

The municipal corporation is trying to shrug off its responsibilities. Several civic-run hospitals in Pune are in a bad shape and in some hospitals only OPDs are in operation. In hospitals, medical equipment is lying waste because no specialist doctors have been appointed by the government. The time has come that civic hospitals should be upgraded with the help of private players on a public-private basis. It will help poor patients as specialist doctors will be available. Government is getting sufficient revenue and it must be utilised properly.

-Anoop Panjwani

70-80 per cent of people cannot afford private hospitals

There is a growing need for civic-run hospitals because 70-80 per cent of people cannot afford private hospitals. It costs an average of ₹10,000-₹40,000 per night in a private hospital, which is unaffordable for people belonging to economically weaker sections. It is important that the civic bodies fill these vacancies and run the hospitals properly.

-Jyoi Ronghe