Mumbai: Finally, hope floats for Aarey Hospital

Move to revive Aarey Hospital will bring relief to the 40,000 resident of Aarey Colony. Pic/Anurag Ahire

After years of tussle between the BMC and the state Dairy Department over Aarey Hospital in Goregaon East, the latter has decided to outsource the facility to a charitable trust. The hospital has been in a dilapidated condition, operating without essential medical services for years now. BMC was eyeing to take over the hospital and thus get a foothold in the Aarey Colony within the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, the last green patch amidst the concrete jungle of Mumbai.

"We are still in talks with them and had a meeting with state officials in August. This suddenly happened and none of us were informed," said a ward-level BMC official.

Meanwhile, the move may provide some relief to the 40,000 residents of Aarey Colony, including the 8,000-odd tribal people residing in 27 hamlets. Last month, when Dinish Mahale's nine-year-old son was bitten by a poisonous snake, he had to rush to Trauma Hospital, about seven km away from his hamlet in Aarey.

"We could not take him to Aarey Hospital because nothing is available there. We had to struggle through bad roads and traffic in such a medical emergency," Mahale said. When the boy was taken to Trauma Hospital, the family was asked to take him to Cooper Hospital for treatment.
Medical emergencies such as snakebites are common in Aarey. "Snakebite victims have often died while on their way to other hospitals," said Prakash Bhoir, a local activist from a tribal community.

There are a few small private dispensaries in the area, but even those cannot cater to patients in need of emergency care. "The government has been opening Aapla Dawakhana everywhere; why not in Aarey for our people?" Bhoir said.

Worries of privatisation

We cannot predict how a trust will run this hospital, but any step closer to privatization is dangerous," said Bhoir. "Why can't the government or BMC look after this?" he questioned.

Another resident of Aarey Colony, a member of a tribal community and affiliated to Congress. Sunil Kumre said, "Since 2014, there has been a demand to hand over Aarey Hospital to BMC and in 2016, the government approved this demand through a circular, but the dispute between the state Dairy Development Department and BMC has deprived us of medical facilities," he said. He added that handing over the control of the hospital to a private trust will likely hit the pockets of Aarey residents who rely on government services.

Aarey Dairy denies privatisation

Meanwhile, Balasaheb Wakchaure, chief executive officer of Aarey Milk Colony, has denied that the move is one step toward privatization. "As the land has been already handed over to the forest department, we were not in a position to fulfill BMC's demand for an additional five-acre land in Aarey Colony. Now, all we have done is take a decision to hand over the existing structure to a charitable trust," Wakchaure said.

Wakchaure said that they have called for expressions of interest and all the terms and conditions will be set before handing over the hospital to ensure rates are on par with government-run facilities. "A few proposals had come our way from charitable trusts, after which we went ahead with the decision. The hospital will be handed over to the lowest bidder to run the facility," he said.

40,000
is the population size to benefit from hospital revival