Mumbai- On 7th July, over 600 M-East Ward residents marched from Samvidhaan Chowk in Lallubhai Compound to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) M-East Ward office, protesting against the proposed privatisation of two public hospitals in the locality. The rally marked a significant escalation in the ongoing city-wide opposition to the BMC’s healthcare policy.

The rally was organized by the ‘Aspatal Bachao, Nijikaran Hatao’ (Save Hospital, Stop Privatisation) Action Committee, a joint formation of 25 civil society organisations, unions, and political parties. It focused particularly on the proposed PPP model involving the transfer of hospital operations to private entities for two hospitals in the area—Shatabdi General Hospital and Medical College in Govandi, and Lallubhai Compound Super-speciality Hospital. On 5th March and 13th June 2025, the BMC issued tenders to privatise Lallubhai and Shatabdi hospitals, including a 100-seat MBBS college at the latter. According to the organisers, the move is not limited to Shatabdi and Lallubhai hospitals but is part of a broader plan to privatise six more public hospitals across the city.

As outlined in the tender, out of 581 beds at Shatabdi Hospital, 70% would be allocated for people who can pay, while the remaining 30% would be reserved for BMC-referred patients, who would receive treatment on a concessional basis. Similarly, at Lallubhai, among the 410 beds, 150 would be reserved for the patients of the Municipal Corporation, while the remaining 260 beds would be reserved for the economically weaker section.

The determinant of belonging to the Economically Weaker Section is the possession of an orange or yellow ration card with a Mumbai address. According to residents, this would exclude a vast population of migrant workers and extended families of people in Mumbai and would “instigate the creation of a class of people who can afford healthcare and others who can’t in Mumbai’s hospitals.”

Under the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888, and the 74th Amendment Act, the city corporation is entrusted with the responsibility of providing healthcare services through the construction and maintenance of public hospitals. Citizens argue, “Through this profit-making move, they are grossly violating their legal responsibility.”

M-East Ward, where both hospitals are located, is Mumbai’s most health-deprived region, recording 16% of the city’s maternal deaths, over 50% child malnutrition, and a 300% rise in TB cases since 2014. With life expectancy at just 39 years, far below city and national averages, the ward reflects the starkest failures of urban public health. Citizens say that in such a situation, ‘it would not be economically affordable for general and needy patients.’

The rally concluded with the submission of a memorandum of demands to the Medical Health Officer of the M-East Ward, as no senior civic official was available at the time. The officer assured the committee that a meeting with senior BMC officials would be arranged in the coming days.

The memorandum submitted by the protesters listed the following key demands:

1. Shatabdi, Lallubhai Compound, and all other public hospitals in Mumbai should be excluded from any form of privatisation or PPP arrangements.

2. NICUs must be made operational in all maternity hospitals in M-East Ward within 30 days, and recruitment for vacant posts should be completed within 3 months. Services at Maharashtra Nagar Maternity Home should resume immediately.

3. Free diagnostic services should be initiated in all government hospitals within 30 days.

4. Vacant posts in hospitals and health centres must be advertised within a month, with recruitment completed within 3 months.

5. The BMC should establish 38 new municipal hospitals within 3 months—one for every 15,000 people—as per urban planning norms.

6. Monthly review meetings on healthcare services and grievance redressal should be held with the MOH, DMC (Public Health), and AMC at the ward level.

“If these demands are not met, we call for larger public participation in a further intensified struggle against these anti-people decisions of the BMC. In the coming days, we will also organize a Jan Sunwai,” the organisers added.

- The author is a graduate in Political Science from Elphinstone College and is involved in People’s movement in Mumbai and Thane.