Kasturba Hospital to be upgraded

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has this year made a special budgetary mention for the upgrade and modernisation of Kasturba Hospital, the city’s only infectious diseases hospital. At present, it has 550 beds and isolation wards to deal with outbreaks such as those of malaria and swine flu.

“In the past few years, the city has seen outbreaks of diseases like swine flu. There has always been a fear of outbreaks of contagious diseases. The city’s health infrastructure will not be able to handle such a large-scale spread of contagious diseases. The modernisation and upgrade of Kasturba Hospital is one way of preparing ourselves,” said a senior official from the BMC’s health department.

In its budget, which was presented on Friday, the BMC has hiked its proposed spending on health and medical services by a substantial 30% over the previous year.

The health budget for 2011-12 is Rs8 crore. This is a first-of-its-kind effort by the civic body.

Budgetary allocation for the health department will see a substantial increase, as various schemes — breast cancer clinics, repairs of primary health centres, upgrade of civic dispensaries — have been planned for the below poverty line and financially weaker sections of society.