Mumbai: BMC accuses Wadia Hospitals of financial mismanagement

The situation came to light after Wadia Hospitals stopped admitting patients last week due to lack of sufficient funds. File pic

The conflict over the paucity of funds between the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the management of Wadia Hospitals has continued to escalate. While the civic administration promised to clear the pending dues, senior civic officials said they would decide on the matter after the meeting with the Mayor and Wadia management officials on Tuesday.

The situation came to light after Wadia Hospitals stopped admitting patients last week due to lack of sufficient funds since the state government and subsequently the BMC stopped the payment of grants.

While the state government stopped paying more than three years ago, the hospital administration claims that the BMC has to pay R31.44 crore to the Nowrozjee Wadia maternity hospital and R105.85 crore to the Bai Jerbai hospital for children.

However, BMC has raised allegations of fund mismanagement against the management of Wadia hospitals. "We were paying for 612 beds in both the hospitals. But they increased the beds to 925 without informing us. We paid until 2017 and then started retaining some of the money since we noticed lack of transparency in the financial records," a senior civic official said.

The BMC stopped payments in September 2019 after which Wadia hospital moved the Bombay High Court against the BMC.

Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani claimed that based on a preliminary inquiry conducted last month, several employees were drawing double salaries. "The inquiry revealed that six people are getting double pension and salary. Another 10 people have been getting honorarium from both hospitals. We have these names and their details," he said. Civic officials also claimed that the CEO and other senior employees of the Wadia hospitals were getting paid much higher than the dean at other civic hospitals.

Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar sympathised with the patients and said that a decision will be taken tomorrow after the meeting. "We don't want Wadia Hospitals to shut down. We will pay the last instalment and then further course of action will be decided after the meeting," she said.

Meanwhile, maternity hospital employees who had not received their salaries since December approached deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Monday for resolution.

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