Sena UBT Opposes Privatisation of Three New Municipal Hospitals in Western Suburbs
The Shiv Sena (UBT) has strongly opposed plans to hand over three newly constructed municipal hospitals, including the Shri Harilal Bhagwati Municipal General Hospital in Borivali West, to private operators. Party leader Kishori Pednekar demanded that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) manage these facilities directly to ensure affordable healthcare for the public, as construction of the three hospitals is now more than 85 percent complete.
The three hospitals, which also include Siddharth Municipal General Hospital in Goregaon and Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivali West, have been built at a cost of approximately Rs 500 crore. Once fully operational, they will add 1,120 beds to the civic healthcare system, with 490 beds at Bhagwati Hospital, 324 at Shatabdi Hospital, and 306 at Siddharth Hospital.
Pednekar, the Leader of the Opposition in the BMC, raised objections after inspecting the three sites alongside other party leaders. She accused the BJP-led state government and the civic administration of attempting to privatise public healthcare by handing management over to private agencies.
"The hospitals have been built using taxpayers' money and should remain under the BMC. They must serve the common people and not private interests," Pednekar said, stating that her party would fight any privatisation attempts. She added that the BMC has decades of experience successfully operating major hospitals such as KEM, Nair, Sion, Cooper, and Rajawadi.
During her inspection, Pednekar also highlighted existing operational issues in the western suburbs. At Shatabdi Hospital, she flagged delays in medicine procurement through the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal, nursing staff shortages, and frequent breakdowns of a 13-year-old MRI machine running under a public-private partnership model.
For the Borivali West facility, Pednekar emphasized that the increased bed capacity at Bhagwati Hospital must be matched by immediate recruitment of doctors, nurses, technicians, paramedical staff, and sanitation workers. She urged the BMC to quickly clear pending approvals for manpower hiring to expedite the commissioning of the hospitals.
Once opened, the facilities are expected to significantly ease the patient load on major municipal hospitals like KEM, Nair, and Sion.
