Mumbai News: Municipal Mazdoor Union To Go On Hunger Strike Against BMC's PPP Model For Health Services In 5 Hospitals
Mumbai: The Municipal Mazdoor Union (MMU) has decided to go on a hunger strike against BMC’s decision to run the health services of five peripheral hospitals on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.
“We have already communicated to the BMC Commissioner that we do not support the PPP model. A meeting is scheduled on April 28 from 2 to 7 pm in our office, where the course of our protest will be finalised,” Pradeep Narkar, MMU’s general secretary told the Free Press Journal.
The five hospitals which are in plans to run on PPP policy includes Bhagwati Hospital in Borivali (490 beds), Shatabdi Hospital in Govandi (250 beds), KB Bhabha Hospital in Bandra (436 beds), MT Agarwal Hospital in Mulund (110 beds) and Krantiveer Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Hospital in Vikhroli (140 beds). While, a hospital in Mankhurd’s Lallu Bhai compound, built by MMRDA and handed over to the BMC, which is not operational yet, is also under plan to run on PPP model.
The BMC recently floated an Expression of Interest (EOI) for Borivali’s Bhagwati hospital. However, the MMU held a protest outside the hospital. As per the MMU, the EOI has been withdrawn from the BMC website, and no private parties have responded to it.
Although BMC says the existing staff from these hospitals will be absorbed into its major hospitals, the MMU questions the quality control and monitoring of the PPP model hospitals.
Speaking with the FPJ, a dean of a BMC-run periphery hospital said, “At present, the hospitals to run on PPP police is actively being considered only for Bhagwati and Shatabdi hospitals. For rest of the hospitals, the proposal is still in the pipeline. BMC hospitals are staff-crunched. Recently, 1800 positions from BMC hospitals were scraped. The administration is of the opinion to run the additional beds or new facilities in these hospitals directly by appointing a private party rather than hiring BMC staff,” the dean said on the condition of anonymity.
The dean also highlighted that it is difficult to monitor the private partners. “Although the administration appoints an OSD to keep a check, past experiences have been poor. It is practically not possible to monitor every bed details, if the private partners are following the BMC guidelines,” he added.
In its FY 2025-26 budget, BMC said that it is introducing PPP policy to make health services more accessible and affordable to citizens. It will minimise pocket expenditure of patients and the recurring expenditure of the BMC. However, the question of quality control remains.
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