Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) plan to run its existing blood banks—Bandra Bhabha, Rajawadi and Shatabdi (Kandivali)—and start three new ones at Kurla Bhabha, MT Agarwal and Bhagwati hospitals under a new civic collaboration model has hit yet another delay. The civic body has now issued a third extension to the tender process, pushing the submission deadline to October 27, 2025.
The tender was originally published on August 5, with a submission deadline of August 28, later extended to September 18, then to October 8, and now to October 27. Despite strong opposition from residents and health activists, the BMC is moving forward with what critics describe as the “privatisation” of key hospital services.
Private Operators to Run Blood Banks
Under the proposed model, the civic body will lease out space in its peripheral hospitals to private operators, who will run the blood banks and charge patients as per pre-approved rates. However, there remains no clarity on the minimum number of patients that BMC hospitals must refer to these facilities daily.
A senior BMC Health Department official acknowledged that the new model is not substantially different from the earlier public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement. “It is similar to the PPP model, where patients will still have to pay for these services,” the official said, adding that the tender was first floated in early August but has seen multiple extensions. “It seems contractors are not showing interest,” the official admitted.
Activists Raise Concerns Over Space and Pricing
The initiative has drawn sharp criticism from health activists, who allege irregularities, misuse of hospital land, and violations of government policy. They claim the civic body is offering far larger spaces to private contractors than permitted by regulations.
According to government norms, a blood bank with component separation requires only 150 square metres of space. However, under the new proposal, the allocated areas are much larger—367.27 sq m at MT Agarwal, 310.55 sq m at Bhagwati, 248.88 sq m at Rajawadi and 226.49 sq m at Shatabdi (Kandivali).
Initially, Bandra Bhabha was allotted 196.87 sq m and Kurla Bhabha 162.58 sq m, but the spaces were later expanded to 293 and 235 sq m, respectively, after bidders reportedly insisted that larger areas were “essential.”
Activists allege that civic officials accepted these requests without proper verification, raising questions about transparency and accountability in the entire process.
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Concerns have also been raised over the pricing policy. Despite being granted space at concessional rates, contractors are allowed to sell blood at government-fixed prices without any concession. Activists argue that these rates were originally determined by factoring in the high rent paid by private blood banks, and offering civic premises at discounted rates without reducing blood prices defeats the purpose of the collaboration.
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