South Mumbai hospitals saturated

Studies have revealed that South Mumbai has the best bed-to-population ratio in the country. “The ratio stands at 5 beds per 1,000 people,” says Dr Vivek Desai, managing director of hospital consultancy group Hosmac. (The national ratio is one bed per 1,000 population.) This is also because the population in South Mumbai is much less than in the eastern and western suburbs.

The downside is that there is not much scope for expansion of private hospital care in South Mumbai. “Only public hospitals have scope for expansion in this part of the city now,” says a senior state government official.

The JJ Group of Hospitals is set to get more beds and better equipment. “If public hospitals are run to capacity in South Mumbai, private hospitals here will face stiff competition and probably incur losses,” according to the official. The state has received a grant of Rs120 crore from the Centre to upgrade JJ.

 Private hospitals, however, disagree that medical facilities in South Mumbai have reached the level of saturation. Colonel M Masand, president, Association of Hospitals, and CEO of Jaslok Hospital, says that if the government increases the FSI available for hospitals, expansion plans will take off.

“Most hospitals  in South Mumbai are filled to capacity during working days,” he argues. “If hospitals get more FSI, they will expand within the existing infrastructure.”

Masand agrees, however, that no new hospitals can come up in this part of the city. “There is no free land to build hospitals here,” he says. “But with better technology, if more beds are required, hospitals will try that.”

 The PD Hinduja Hospital at Mahim is starting a new surgical unit at Khar for want of space nearby. The hospital’s 21-storey building is also being remodelled to incorporate better facilities.