The BMC has taken up the responsibility of cleaning hospitals in the city for which the civic body will outsource the cleaning work at seven civic-run hospitals to private agencies. The contractor will have to appoint 25 cleaners per one lakh square feet of the hospital premises. The cleaning work will be carried out in three shifts. The agency will be hired for three years at the estimated cost of a total of Rs. 74 crores.
The civic body will appoint private cleaners for major hospitals like KEM at Parel, Sion, Nair general and Nair dental at Mumbai Central, Cooper hospital in Vile Parle, Jogeshwari's Trauma hospital and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar hospital in Kandivali.
"Thousands of people daily visit the major civic hospitals like Sion and KEM. The paan stains on walls and trash dumped in the open have been a major challenge to cleanliness for the hospitals. Also, the short-staffed team of class IV employees struggled to maintain the premises. The pilot project of hiring a private agency for cleanliness in KEM hospital turned out successful in 2015. So the BMC started hiring a private agency for major hospitals," said a civic official.
According to the BMC's terms and conditions, the agency will have to appoint 25 cleaners per one lakh sq ft of the hospital premises and also a supervisor in three shifts who will inspect if the work is carried out as per the conditions. A hospital administration will also be sent a report of the work to the higher authorities. The BMC has also warned of stringent action if the agency doesn't follow the conditions.
Sanjeev Kumar, additional municipal commissioner, said, " We have been regularly appointing a private agency for our major hospitals for the last few years."