Mumbai, Feb 3 (PTI) Nearly 15 per cent of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s Rs 45,949 crore budget for 2022-23 has been allocated for health, signifying the importance given to the key sector, said municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal on Thursday as the metropolis emerges out of a third wave of coronavirus whose outbreak in 2020 put heavy burden on medical facilities.
Addressing a press conference after presenting the budget of the country’s richest civic body earlier in the day, Chahal said out of the total outlay for the next fiscal, nearly Rs 7,000 crore, or 15 per cent, has been allocated for strengthening and upgrading health services.
“There is no other organisation in the county in which 15 per cent of the budget is going to health,” said the IAS officer, adding that post the coronavirus outbreak, the world has understood the importance of health infrastructure.
Chahal said under the banner of Hinduhridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Health Centre, preventive and primary treatment facilities will be provided to citizens close to their residence.
In the first phase of the scheme, 100 health centres will be established in BMC areas in three months, the civic commissioner said.
He said more than 100 diagnostic tests will be made available at these centres at nominal rates. As a result, patients won’t need to rush to major hospitals for primary treatment, reducing load on them.
He said the civic body is going to set up a Proton Therapy Centre with the help of Tata Hospital for cancer treatment as this form of therapy has less side effects as compared to chemotherapy.
According to Chahal, among the eligible citizens in Mumbai, 110 per cent have taken the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 94 per cent have taken both the shots. Also, 16 per cent of eligible people have taken booster doses and 48 per cent teenagers in the age group 15 to 18 have been administered the first dose.
The BMC has decided to set up 200 Shiv Yoga centres with a provision of Rs 30 crore to push disease preventive measures instead of focusing on just curative steps to fight illnesses, the senior bureaucrat said.
According to Chahal, the civic body has deposits worth Rs 87,000 crore on which it gets interest of Rs 1,200 crore.
Highlighting that a provision of Rs 800 crore has been made in the budget for Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking, Chahal said the civic utility will procure 1,900 electric buses by 2023.
Chahal claimed that during the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic last year, Mumbai’s fatality rate was 0.8 per cent, which was the lowest among cities.
Meanwhile, mayor Kishori Pednekar termed the civic budget as “people-oriented” and “development-focused” with adequate allocations made for infrastructure projects and various other projects in Mumbai.
The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP), in a release, termed the BMC budget as “contract and contractor driven” and slammed the Shiv Sena-led corporation for what it called its lack of focus on improving the standard of living of Mumbaikars.
“One would have thought that the recent pandemic and its aftermath would have served as a wake up call to the civic administration, but this budget has proved otherwise and is nothing but a string of misplaced priorities,” said Preeti Sharma Menon, AAP National Executive member and its Mumbai in-charge.
“Property tax has been waived for 500 square feet houses, but apart from that there is nothing in the budget for fishermen, auto drivers and people from other segments. The budget lacks concept and schemes beyond water, gutter and tender,” said Mumbai BJP MLA Ashish Shelar, criticising the budget. PTI KK RSY RSY