Mumbai: Health complaints on rise, 88% resolved

Unlike 2017, where municipal councillors focused more on the renaming of health centres and hospitals, their focus was more on increasing health issues in the city last year.

In the background of the rising number of seasonal diseases cases in the city, the municipal councillors have been questioning the ward committee of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation about the epidemic disease in the city and infrastructure related to health. As per data received by Praja Foundation, around 29 questions related to health were raised in various ward committee meetings in 2018, as compared to 19 questions raised in 2017.

Milind Mhaske, director of Praja Foundation, said, "Due to public activism and increased awareness about councillors' roles, councillors are putting in more efforts. The number of questions raised has also increased."

The details in the report also revealed that the number of complaints by citizens related to health issues in 24 wards has increased by 9 per cent. In 2017, the Medical Officer of Health received 1,595 complaints, while the number increased to 1,743 in 2018.

Out of 1,743 complaints received in 2018, around 1,530 (88 per cent) of the complaints were resolved. While in 2017, 82% of the complaints were resolved.

Yogesh Mishra, Research and Data Head at Praja Foundation, said, "The data also reveals that while the number of complaints closed or resolved regarding health issues has increased by 5 per cent, we can also see that the average days taken to resolve the complaints has also increased. A system should be set up by the civic body to evaluate the satisfaction level of citizens regarding handling and redressal of complaints."

Time taken to solve issues has also shot up — from 40 days in 2017 to 49 days in 2018.