Hello Mumbai City Desk 

AAP protests outside Rajawadi hospital against the death of ICU patient who was bit by a rat,
Party leaders reach Rajawadi hospital, meet with dean and hospital administration;

BMC has outsourced critical care facilities to private contractors,
BMC cannot abdicate it’s responsibility to public health by paying third parties.

The Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday , protested the death of ICU patient Shrinivas Nagesh Yallapa in Rajawadi hospital, where a rat bit into the patient’s left cheek under the eye in the ICU. Party leaders and youth wing working presidents went to meet the Dean and senior administration, to enquire as to who is responsible for the negligence which had occured, and what actions had been taken thus far to prevent these incidents.

In discussion with the doctors at the facility and the Dean over phone call, it was learnt that a firm named CRITICAL CARE & ASSOCIATES was outsourced the responsibility of managing the ICU unit. No FIR has yet been filed against the firm, and the hospital is yet to figure out exactly whom to hold directly responsible for the act of negligence. A committee has been set up by the hospital administration to investigate, and a report will be presented in two days.

“It must be noted here that the management of critical healthcare units has been outsourced to private agencies by the BMC. Firstly, we must realise that the BMC cannot abdicate it’s responsibility to public health by outsourcing the management of their most critical facilities, to private bodies. As the civic body, the BMC are responsible for what happens in Mumbai’s government hospitals, and shirking this responsibility by paying third parties is completely unacceptable. Secondly, we must ask if the Mumbai model of healthcare that the BMC has been glorifying, is in fact, a product of private outsourcing, and a PR exercise.” said Ruben Mascarenhas, AAP Mumbai Working President

“ICU bed maintenance is outsourced to private contractors, and we are absolutely sure that these private agencies are run by cronies of politicians and bureaucrats. This is a money-making racket with absolutely no focus on quality healthcare. Why should such critical healthcare be outsourced to private bodies, when healthcare is one of the primary functions of the BMC?

We raise four demands: a swift inquiry must take place, along with strict action against the parties responsible for the mishap; fair compensation must be provided to the family of the deceased; Mayor Kishori Pednekar is ultimately responsible for the death of this patient and the underlying negligence of the BMC, and she must resign; and the BMC must bring an absolute stoppage to the outsourcing of the management of critical healthcare units to private agencies.” said Preeti Sharma Menon, AAP National Executive Member and Mumbai Prabhari.