Mumbai, Jan 10: Ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, Mumbai residents have intensified their demand to declare health as a fundamental right, calling for dignified, accessible and free healthcare for all.
Several citizen groups and health rights organisations, including the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, have released a detailed manifesto outlining 17 key health-related demands.
Opposition to privatisation
The manifesto strongly opposes the privatisation of public health services and seeks a complete guarantee of free medicines and diagnostic tests in all civic health facilities.
Activists have also demanded the expansion of public hospitals from the primary to the tertiary level and stricter regulation of private and charitable hospitals.
Call to end user fees
Among the major demands is the removal of all user fees in BMC-run health facilities and an end to the requirement of cards or documents for treatment. The groups have insisted that public hospitals and services must remain under public control and that PPP-based privatisation models be discontinued.
Expansion of civic hospitals sought
The manifesto calls for increasing the number of major BMC hospitals from four to six, ensuring adequate staffing for timely treatment, and ending the practice of prescribing medicines or tests from outside facilities. It also demands transparency in treatment rates at private and charitable hospitals under patient rights norms.
Strengthening neighbourhood-level care
To strengthen neighbourhood-level care, the groups have proposed one primary health centre for every 20,000 residents, with facilities located within a 15-minute walking distance.
They have also sought maternity homes, basic surgical services and specialist OPDs within 5 to 20 minutes of residential areas, along with one suburban hospital for every five lakh population.
Budget and maternal healthcare demands
Other key demands include ensuring free treatment on nearly 1,800 beds in charitable hospitals, increasing the civic health budget to at least 15 per cent—rising to 25 per cent within five years—and strengthening maternal and child healthcare through a minimum of four home visits for pregnant women. The manifesto also emphasises 100 per cent immunisation coverage and expansion of anganwadis and nutrition programmes.
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Appeal to political parties
Health activists say these demands reflect growing public concern over rising healthcare costs and gaps in access, urging political parties to commit to health as a fundamental right in their election agendas.
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