Mumbai hospitals to be thrown open to private sector

MANJU MEHTA

MUMBAI, JANUARY 7: The first step for privatisation of public health services in the city has been taken. Empty civic coffers and a dilapidated, two-storeyed structure called Centenary Hospital (Shatabdi) in Kandivli (W) have jointly opened the doors to privatisation of civic hospitals.

But wait. The move is not the end of road for lakhs of patients who go to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) hospitals. The rider in the ad for private parties to demolish and reconstruct the 120-bed hospital is that ‘‘prevailing rates should be charged’’.

‘‘We have a number of options. One could be to have the party construct a 120-bed hospital and hand it over to us, and then construct a super-speciality hospital using the remaining area which they can run at their prices. The other option is to let the private party construct and run the hospital and, in return, say, 30 per cent of the beds should provide health services at BMC rates,’’ revealed BMC sources.

The Centenary Hospital plot measures 35,633 sq m. The structure will be given to the private party for management and maintenance on caretaker basis for 30 years, renewable for another 30 years on same terms. In return, the private party will offer one time non-refundable premium to the corporation.

An ad inviting expression of interest from national and international firms, joint ventures, charitable trusts was placed last month. ‘‘The response is good. We’ll be meeting them on Wednesday to discuss at length their terms of agreement,’’ said the civic official.

In effect, the current proposal for privatising health services would no doubt turn to be one with far-reaching ramifications in a city where out of the 40,000 hospital beds, 20,000 are in government hospitals. Of these, around 9,000 are in state government-run hospitals and 11,000 in BMC hospitals.

‘‘Given the socio-economic fabric of Mumbai, 50 per cent of the patients go for low-cost public health services. The demand increases with the population. That is where privatisation comes in,’’ say senior officials. The Rs 40-crore Marol Cancer hospital in Andheri under construction is next in line.