Residents storm M-east ward office in protest against hospital privatisation | Mumbai News
MUMBAI: On Monday, around 200 residents and activists marched from Samvidhan Chowk in Lallubhai Compound to the M-East ward office, protesting the proposed privatisation of two newly constructed civic hospitals.Residents see the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model as the final blow after years of inadequate public healthcare. “There were times when pregnant women and infants were referred from one hospital to another at the risk of their lives due to a shortage of resources at the nearest hospital,” said Ajma Sheikh, a Maharashtra Nagar resident for 15 years. “The point is to strengthen existing services,” she added.The M-East ward faces a high burden of tuberculosis, malnutrition, and respiratory illnesses. Of its 8 lakh residents—mostly project-affected families of daily wage workers—only Shatabdi Hospital in Shivaji Nagar, with 220 beds, is functional. Its 10-bed ICU was shut for months.Since May, BMC tried to hand over the newly built 580-bed teaching hospital on the Shatabdi campus under PPP. Due to insufficient bids, tenders were repeatedly extended. The same applies to Lallubhai Compound Hospital, which took a decade to build and remains unused. Under the proposed PPP, BMC plans to run only 150 of 410 beds there.Among the protesters was former Mumbai Mayor Nirmala Samant-Prabhavalkar. “As per the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888, and the 74th Constitutional Amendment, it is BMC’s legal duty to provide public healthcare. As one of the richest civic bodies in the country, it can fulfil this responsibility,” she said.She is part of a coalition of 25 political and civil society groups, including Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, under the “Aspatal Bachao, Niji Karan Hatao” campaign. Their six demands include filling all healthcare vacancies and holding monthly public health reviews with residents.Dr Chandrakant Pawar, Chief Medical Superintendent of peripheral hospitals, was unavailable for comment. M-East Ward MOH Dr Pradeep Kashale said, “We’ve heard their demands, but these are policy decisions. I’m trying to arrange a meeting between the protesters, Dr Pawar, and the DMC Health.”
