The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Greater Mumbai has decided to take up a massive project to aggressively remodel and upgrade most of the ailing civic-run hospitals and healthcare facilities in Mumbai.

The corporation has accordingly allocated a budget of Rs.700 crore for the purpose including the requirements of several small peripheral hospitals and primary care centres that come under its ambit.

To begin with, the corporation would concentrate on basic remodeling of infrastructure and equipment and add more departments at its three major hospitals including KEM Hospital, BYL Nair Hospital and Sion Hospital.

Work has already begun on adding a new cath-lab and an MRI centre at KEM Hospital that would be followed by similar installations at Sion Hospital and Nair Hospital. The corporation would spend close to Rs.20 crore on the installation and upgradation of these centres alone.

Simultaneous to the above modifications, the corporation would lay equal thrust on building new hospitals and rejuvenating the existing hospitals that by far have been neglected. Prominent among them include; adding six more floors (each floor measuring 45,000 sq ft) to the BYL Nair Hospital that would have room to accommodate more OPD patients and enough space for the pathology and diagnostic departments that would be readjusted from its earlier cramped location.

Also in the wings is the proposal to set up a new building in the campus of Sion Hospital solely for the purpose of handling out patients who make it to the hospital from far and wide. It would also seek to incorporate space for the general administration department of the hospital.

Of the hospitals that would be upgraded and remodeled include the 235-bedded Dr RN Cooper Hospital, Juhu, which would be completely broken and built again with latest equipment and other medical facilities. The others that would follow include the Rajawadi Hospital and Mulund General Hospital situated in the eastern suburbs.

Tenders have also been floated to set up a cancer hospital at Andheri, work on which would be initiated in a few months from now.

Citing the sudden need for undertaking the upgrading and remodeling work for most of the city's hospitals and health facilities, Shree Kant Singh, additional municipal commissioner, western suburbs and in charge of General Administration, said that the corporation was seriously considering reviving the healthcare facilities in the city, considering that it was the most important sector and prompt attention was denied to it all this while.

"The corporation has been able to recover some profits during the past year and accordingly it has been decided to spend maximum on the healthcare sector. Several tertiary hospitals and primary care centres would be remodeled and rebuilt through the present budgetary allocation that has been set at Rs.700 crore", said Singh.

"We anticipate private sector participation and would involve them to an equal extent to recuperate some of the ailing facilities in the city," he added.

According to Singh, the whole work on remodeling and rebuilding of new and existing projects has been given a deadline and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2005.