Civic hospital at Walkeshwar on the cards

After a public hospital shut in 2006 due to disrepair, the swanky locality hasn't had a facility where slum residents could go; proposal for 20-bed facility in pipeline

Civic hospital at Walkeshwar on the cards

After a public hospital shut in 2006 due to disrepair, the swanky locality hasn't had a facility where slum residents could go; proposal for 20-bed facility in pipeline

The city's upmarket downtown locality of Walkeshwar is set to get a new public hospital after the absence of such au00a0 facility for four years.

The posh South Mumbai neighbourhood, which boasts of housing the CM's bungalow, Varsha, among several other Members of Parliament, does not have a civic-run hospital at present.

A BMC-run dispensary in the locality was shut in 2006 because of its tumbledown state.

It was only recently when the area's Corporator, Pramod Mandrekar, requested the BMC's Health Department to reinstate the facility.

He made a case for a public health care centre in the locality, citing that it is the residence of a broad, mixed demographic - from the high to the low socio-economic categories.

"From ministers' bungalows to servants' quarters to houses of middle-income groups, Walkeshwar is home to all kinds of population.

But they have all been deprived of BMC's health facilities until now. So we proposed a full-fledged hospital in the area," said Mandrekar.

Public hospitals

Echoing the need for a health facility, resident Kishore Kokate said, "Whenever there is an emergency we have to rush the patient to a private hospital.

They ask for a deposit before admission, which everyone cannot afford. In cases of accidents or drowning, patients need immediate care, which is possible only at a public hospital."

At present, there are two major private hospitals in the area, Elizabeth and Bhatia, apart from major tertiary ones like Breach Candy Hospital. The nearest public hospitals for residents are JJ Hospital in Byculla and Nair Hospital in Mumbai Central.

"We have kept a budgetary provision for this hospital. According to preliminary plans, the hospital will have at least 15-20 beds, with a separate maternity ward.

It will also have an in-house pathological laboratory that can perform basic tests," said Ashwini Mate, health committee chairman, BMC.

She added that there were no public hospitals in the locality despite the fact that public servants (ministers) reside here.

"The hospital will also be of help to the slum population of the area which cannot afford private hospitals," she said.

Recently, a team of BMC officials, including Dr Sanjay Oak, director of major civic hospitals, finished inspecting the site.

(With inputs by Bipin Kokate)