Mumbai's Lallubhai Compound will soon get a hospital

Mumbai's Lallubhai Compound, home to many low-income families, will soon have a new 410-bed hospital. The multi-speciality facility is being built by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and will be handed over to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in September. It has taken nearly ten years to reach this point. Currently, the two nine-story buildings and the staff quarters are empty. BMC recently invited bids to run the hospital under a public-private partnership. The deadline for these bids is March 27. After that, it will take several months for outpatient services to start, and a year for operating theaters to open. Lallubhai Compound is home to over 45,000 people, many of whom were relocated from various parts of Mumbai in the early 2000s. A 2018 study found that around 8-10% of households in the area have a member suffering from tuberculosis. Residents have long sought better healthcare services but have often been overlooked by local authorities. Many families in Lallubhai Compound previously lived near well-established hospitals but now struggle to access healthcare. Some travel long distances to hospitals like Rajawadi, which is 5 kilometers away, instead of using the closer Shatabdi Hospital, which they believe has lower quality care. Residents like Sujata Nikam have experienced the challenges firsthand. Her mother suffered an injury after falling into a pile of garbage, highlighting the area's poor living conditions. Activists like Lara, from an advocacy group, say the hospital is the result of years of demands for better facilities. Many officials provided only promises, but now a healthcare facility is finally on the way.