Report by Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC) correspondent
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the governing civic body of Mumbai, has planned to privatise six government hospitals in the city under the public-private partnership (PPP) model. These are the Lokmanya Tilak Municipal hospital in Mankhurd, Shri Harilal Bhagwati hospital in Borivali, KB Bhabha hospital in Bandra, the MT Agrawal hospital in Mulund, the Madan Mohan Malviya Shatabdi hospital in Govandi and Krantiveer Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Hospital in Vikhroli.
Each of these hospitals serves a large working population. Moreover, most of these hospitals were recently redeveloped or in the process of being upgraded, for which the BMC had allocated Rs. 1,894 crore in the last four years. With this redevelopment, these hospitals have increased capacity as well as new or renovated departments of cardiology, plastic surgery, urology, gastroenterology, etc. This would have made it easier for people to access affordable good quality treatment. However, these service will not be free or affordable to poor people if these hospitals are privatised.
So far, the BMC has already floated tenders for the privatisation of the hospitals in Borivali and Mankhurd. According to the tender for the Borivali hospital, the private organization that takes over will have control over the hospital for 30 years and will have to reserve only 147 of the total 490 beds for low-income patients, for whom rates will be fixed by the BMC. The private organization can charge exorbitant rates from the remaining 343 beds. In the Mankhurd hospital, only 150 of 410 beds will be reserved for low income patients; the remaining 260 beds will be used to generate profit.
Mumbai’s Municipal Mazdoor Union threatened to go on a hunger strike against the privatisation plan, stating that “these hospitals are meant for the public who depend on the government to provide affordable treatment.” The union has also expressed its apprehension that around 2,000 healthcare workers, including nurses and doctors, will be left without a job if the six hospitals are privatized.
These hospitals are public assets built with public money and should be used for public welfare. Their privatisation will rob current and future generations of their right to health and in many cases, their right to life as well!
Government hospitals in Mumbai serve not only the local population but also a large volume of referrals from outside the city. At a time when the government should be increasing budget allocations to public health care facilities, they are instead being sold to capitalists who will run them for private profits, depriving lakhs of people of their right to affordable health.
Health care is a fundamental right. Its provision must be a public service, not a private business. The experience during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 clearly showed the parasitic nature of private hospitals, which exploited and endangered the health of helpless patients, in order to maximise their profits.
The struggle of Mumbai’s municipal workers against the plan to privatise six major hospitals is an entirely just struggle. It is a struggle in defence of not only the interests of the workers in these facilities but also in the general interests of the entire people. It deserves unconditional support from all sections of the working people.