Balm on bruises: 3 hostels for medicos

MUMBAI: BMC has finalised three new hostels for resident doctors of KEM, Nair and Sion hospitals.

 

The administration has given the go-ahead to the project that will cost the civic body Rs25 crore. The KEM hostel alone has been estimated to cost Rs12 crore.

 

A committee, comprising Additional Commissioner Shrikant Singh, Joint Commissioner S Damle, KEM Dean Nirmala Kshirsagar, Dean of Nair Hospital Sanjay Oak and Dean of Sion Hospital M Yeolekar, had been given the task to prepare a report for BMC chief Johny Joseph about the boarders’ requirements. Singh said that it was decided to base the hostels on the AIIMS model. In Mumbai, more than 2,200 resident doctors live in 40 rooms with almost no facilities except for a bed and a chair in each room. A room measures about 200 square feet and houses at least five doctors.

 

Their problem has been aggravated because almost 50 per cent of the resident doctors are from outside Mumbai. They have been protesting about their living conditions for the past three years. KEM, the biggest hospital in city, has 750 resident doctors.

 

KEM Dean Dr Nirmala Kshirsagar said the new hostel would help more than 400 doctors. MARD spokesperson Yoganand Patil was pleased with the BMC decision. “Our doctors live like animals,” he said.