MUMBAI: The civic administration will relaunch its Aapli Chikitsa Yojana, a subsidised diagnostic testing scheme, on Friday. It will be available across 100 municipal health facilities, after a seven-month pause. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is also aiming to launch the service in all civic-run hospitals by August 15.
The scheme will provide blood testing facilities to citizens at nominal rates through an external source in the institutions from where it operates. Reports will be sent to citizens via WhatsApp.
According to civic officials, the scheme will cover both basic and advanced tests at dispensaries, polyclinics and 30 civic-run maternity hospitals, Dr RN Cooper Hospital, HBT Trauma Care Centre and 16 suburban hospitals, five specialty hospitals, and all municipal hospitals from wards A to E.
It will cover 83 tests – 66 basic tests and 17 advanced tests – available in health institutions run by the state government.
“The tests were included in the scheme based on recommendations from an expert committee. The BMC will collect the patient data and information, and formulate the results after uploading the information on a Health Information Management System (HIMS),” said a civic official. This will help to directly relay the report to patients via WhatsApp, said the official.
The BMC had rolled out the scheme in 2019, significantly improving access to these diagnostic services. However, after 18 months, the firm contracted to manage the scheme for four years, Krsnna Diagnostics, encountered problems in operating the scheme, disrupting services in many hospitals.
The scheme was shut down on December 15, 2024. The corporation failed to appoint a new contractor until now. Lifenity health will be the new service provider for the scheme, selected via a tender.
“It is good that the BMC has re-launched the scheme but they must ensure that medicines and healthcare staff must be present as per requirements, without having to rely entirely on paramedics. Due to the monsoon upsurge in illnesses, there is an urgent need for accessible health care at nominal costs,” said health economist Dr Ravi Duggal.