Despite having in-house testing facilities, some doctors from the surgery department of the city’s civic-run JJ Hospital have been referring patients to private labs even for basic blood tests like CBC, which is used to evaluate one’s overall health and detect a wide range of disorders, including anaemia.

One of the biggest government-run hospitals in Mumbai, JJ not only sees people from lower middle-class families within the city, but also from interior parts of Maharashtra, who can’t afford treatment at private hospitals.