After two years of normalcy, the renovation of Bandra’s K.B. Bhabha Municipal General Hospital is still unfinished, even though the pandemic caused other infrastructure projects to suffer. By July 2021, the first part of the project was expected to be finished. Nevertheless, in response to COVID-19, the deadline was moved to September 2023.
The project’s second phase, which entails establishing a central sterile supply department, pre- and post-operation wards, a delivery ward, an X-ray department, and a trauma unit, has not yet begun, despite the official opening of a new hospital building at the back of the current facility in March 2025.
According to a senior hospital official, “the work has been stopped for several months. It appears that there are some financial problems. Nevertheless, the firm has not formally communicated why such a massive structure was built and is now useless. “After completing a structural audit, the authorities requested that we do another one a year later, and we did so in March 2025 with our report. But phase 2 work hasn’t begun yet,” the person continued.
Patients continue to receive medical care, but because the new facility is not yet operational, they are denied better facilities. We reside close to the station in Bandra East. The hospital facility always seems ready when we arrive, yet we are still instructed to use the old structure. When they will start offering services in the new building with its cutting-edge amenities is unknown. Mariam Sheikh, 37, whose son had a tonsil disease, stated, “It would be good if poor people like us are also taken good care of and given modern medical treatment.”
Sources claim that the creation of phase 1 of the new hospital building has cost between Rs 300 crore and Rs 400 crore, and a budget of over Rs 125 crore has been set aside to finish the second phase of the project.
Source: Mid-day
