Mumbai: Mumbaikars be ready to shell out a minimal amount for the blood tests under the ‘Aapli Chiktsa scheme’ which is the most awaited project of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). This move comes after BMC apprehended the scheme might be misused by many.
The civic body had decided to introduce this scheme so that the burden on major civic hospitals can be reduced, given a large number of persons visiting hospitals for tests on a regular basis considering the number of tests conducted on a daily basis.
“The reason behind imposing some fee for the test is to avoid misuse as most of them will do random check-ups which are not even required. So minimal fee on the check-ups is important. But the charges for check-ups are yet to be decided,” said a senior civic official.
Currently, all major hospitals offer free of cost diagnostic tests. This scheme was applicable to all civic dispensaries and peripheral hospitals except major hospitals of the city. The scheme proposed outsourcing tests to private laboratories and claimed to give 139 types of tests done free of cost. Implementation of the scheme is pending for the past two years.
BMC will be spending around Rs 72 crore in the next four years for implementing the scheme. However, Rs 16 crore was allocated in the budget this year to implement the ‘Aapli Chikitsa’ plan. However, Samajwadi Party leader, Rais Shaikh said, the civic authorities should not make their own judgement that scheme will be misused until it has been implemented. The scheme is to benefit the poor, but BMC’s decision may defeat the whole purpose of the scheme.
