Mumbai: Years of delays deprive patients of modern healthcare

While several infrastructure projects suffered on account of the pandemic even after two years of normalcy the revamp of Bandrarsquos K B Bhabha Municipal General Hospital is yet to be completed The first phase of the project was supposed to be completed by July 2021 However the deadline was extended to September 2023 in light of COVID19 While a new hospital building to the rear of the existing facility was inaugurated in March 2025 the projectrsquos second phasemdashwhich includes setting up a central sterile supply department pre and postoperation wards a delivery ward an Xray department and a trauma unitmdashhasnrsquot even startedThe new building located behind Bhabha Hospital PcisAshish RajeA senior official from the hospital said ldquoThe work has been halted for several months now It looks like there are some budgetary issues However no formal communication has come from the corporationrsquos side as to why such a huge building has been constructed and left purposelessrdquoldquoWe had conducted a structural audit but a year later the authorities asked us once again to carry out an audit the report of which we submitted in March 2025 However no phase 2 work has started yetrdquo the official added Though the medical services havenrsquot stopped for patients they are deprived of better facilities as the new building cannot be used yet ldquoWe live in Bandra East near the station Whenever we come here the hospital building appears ready but we are still told to go to the old building We do not know when they will provide services in the new building with its stateoftheart facilities It would be good if poor people like us are also taken good care of and given modern medical treatmentrdquo said Mariam Sheikh 37 whose son was suffering from a tonsil ailmentThe second phaseldquoAll the operation theatres are ready But we cannot use any of those as facilities such as pre and postoperations rooms toilets and sterilisation units which are to be developed in the second phase are still pending construction In the hospital we had only a cold blood bank facility which is to be converted into a component blood bank as cold blood bank treatments are quite outdated While on the one hand we have given our proposals to set up this new component blood bank under the PPP model as the infrastructure has been built the process is advancing as the cooling systems that are needed are still not in place as that also is a part of second phaserdquo said the official who asked what was the point of just constructing a building ldquoIt is really a sad situation that we still have to work at OTs that leak sometimes and offices that have bugsrdquo said the officialAccording to sources approximately Rs 300 crore to Rs 400 crore has been spent on the development of phase 1 of the new hospital building and a budget of approximately Rs 125 crore has been allocated for the completion ofthe second phase of the projectAuthorities respondldquoShifting work is still ongoing Also we can start establishing the STP unit only after the MampE department takes up the work of electric line cutting and demolition Regarding the completion of phase 2 we have taken permission from the higher authorities to finish it within a year Patients will have all planned facilities by mid2026rdquo said Vikas Patil executive engineer health infrastructure cell BMCTo have and have notWork completed under phase 1gtgt ICUgtgt Eight operation theatresgtgt CT and MRI unitgtgt Blood bankWork that is yet to begin under phase 2gtgt Central sterile supply departmentgtgt Pre and postop wardsgtgt Delivery wardgtgt Xray departmentgtgt Trauma unitatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params