Wait for civic hospital continues

Officials fast tracked the work of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation's (NMMC) head office in Belapur by deploying additional personnel and ensured that the new building was inaugurated before the poll code came into force. However, the work on three civic hospitals coming up at Nerul, Belapur and Airoli which began four years ago has been moving at slow pace with civic body only assuring that this hospitals will be open soon.

The civic body had been only giving dates but has been failing to adhere to this deadlines. Earlier, it had said that the hospitals will open by May 2012 then it said the inauguration will take place by December 2013. But still the work is going on and this hospitals are yet to open for common people.

According to civic officials, "The construction work of this hospitals is over and interior work is going on as per the requirements of health department." Presently, there is only one civic hospital in Vashi and there is tremedous load on this hospital. While the civic body has tied up with private hospitals at for treating poor patients.

The civic body began construction of Nerul and Airoli hospitals in 2010 and that for Belapur in 2011. However, the pace of construction has been slow and the hospitals are yet to see the light of the day. "NMMC deployed additional manpower to open its head office building before code of conduct. It should have used the same sensitivity to complete work of civic hospitals," said Gajanan Karande, a social worker. He added, "Poor people have to spend huge amount on private hospitals, if civic hospital starts functioning it will be a big relief for them."

According to another civic official, "The work has got delayed because wards for certain ailments were added to the structure which led to change in work plan. We have already started the work of recruiting staff for this hospitals so that once the building is handed over we can start the operations immediately."