In yet another example of how delay in decision-making leads to patients being deprived of advanced healthcare, a situation at K B Bhabha Municipal General Hospital in Bandra has come to light where the cardiology department and the MRI and CT scan units haven’t been operational despite the inauguration of the new building of the hospital three months ago.

“We did not know if the BMC would run these departments or if these services would be privatised, and so we were unable to start them,” said a senior hospital official. Although plans for privatising these important multi-speciality facilities are in the pipeline, the hospital authorities are still unsure.

“A few days back, we learnt that the contract might be given to private players. If that happens, it will be good, as we do not have staff to run them on our own. To run the complete cardiology department, we will need at least 30 doctors/consulting doctors. A three times greater number of nurses will be required. In addition to that, we will need ward boys and technicians. So, around 300 people will be needed to run the department, which at our level is impossible, as we do not have that much manpower, and also, there is no recruitment being done – neither of permanent doctors and nurses nor on a contract basis,” said the official.