Bhabha hospital in Bandra lacks cardiology, CT scan; patients ask why?

A signboard at the K B Bhabha Municipal General Hospital

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.

Many have asked as to why the services (in the newly inaugurated hospital) are still the same, in fact reduced, compared to the older one. "Before COVID-19, my father had an accident. He had fallen off his bike. At that time, his CT scan was done here. But recently, one of my friends' family members needed a CT scan, but the doctors here said that they do not have the machine anymore. What's the use of building such a huge building using public money and taxes if they cannot give medical services properly," said Alam Muneef Shaikh, who was visiting the hospital for his post-hand-surgery follow-up.

In response to this, the official stated, "Two years ago we had to scrap the one CT scan machine as it had become non-functional. At that time, we had made multiple requests to procure two new machines, but the response that we received was that ‘a whole new hospital with many more facilities, including MRI and CT scans, is being built'. And so, new machines will be procured. Since then, we have been referring patients mostly to Sion Hospital whenever they need these services."

Another patient mentioned that the mortuary of the hospital, which earlier had the capacity to store 15 dead bodies, now can keep only five. "They had a mortuary in the old building where they could keep 15 bodies. I know this because we had kept my father's body here. Lanter, they shifted it outside the hospital to a nearby location for a few months. And now when it is again established inside the hospital, they have space for just five bodies. I don't understand that if a new building is constructed which is bigger than the older one, then why has the number been reduced?" questioned Rais Mohammed, another patient.

Any solutions?

It's not just about announcing new facilities, but properly executing the same is what can help solve this situation, opine public health experts. "Mumbai is a highly populated city. However, many individuals are currently pursuing careers in medicine. If these peripheral hospitals provide DNB courses (Diplomate of National Board is a postgraduate medical degree), the resident doctors will be more than happy to join even the peripheral hospitals. This way, these smaller hospitals will get the manpower to run multi-speciality wards such as the cardiology ward. If these courses are provided and a few consultants are hired along with other staff, the four main medical colleges and hospitals will also not have the added pressure of providing patient care, and the infrastructure of these peripheral hospitals will be used to its full capacity," said a senior doctor from the public health sector. While some civic officials refused to comment, others did not answer multiple calls made by mid-day.