After 20 years, BMC appoints administrator for its four hospitals

Mumbai: For the first time in 20 years, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) appointed an assistant municipal commissioner (Health) for its four medical colleges on September 15.

Prashant Sapkale, the assistant municipal commissioner of BMC’s G-North ward, will hold the additional charge of the AMC (health) and will be responsible for the administrative work at the medical colleges.

“Over many decades, the workload in our hospitals has gone up. With the enormous workload on the deans and medical staff, a need to have administrative support was felt. We had a meeting with the deans and decided to have an AMC to support them in the administrative work,” said Dr Sudhakar Shinde, additional municipal commissioner, BMC.

The appointment of the AMC will also allow the deans to concentrate more on the clinical and research work and will help in better functioning of our hospitals, Dr Shinde added.

Sapkale will be sitting in KEM Hospital and monitoring the administrative work of all the four medical colleges of BMC- KEM Hospital and Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College-Parel, LTMG Hospital and medical college-Sion, Topiwala National Medical College & B. Y. L. Nair Charitable Hospital-Mumbai Central, HBT Medical College, and Dr RN Cooper Municipal Hospital-Juhu.

“The AMC will be assisting in the engineering work in the hospitals, solving manpower and union-related issues, ensuring sanitation and cleanliness is maintained,” said a senior BMC official. The appointment of the AMC (health) is also seen as a step to speed up the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH) certification process for BMC hospitals.

Dr Avinash Supe, dean of KEM Hospital, welcomed the move saying, that the AMC should continue to be in the hospital for a long period to concentrate and strategise. “The administrative post was there in the 90s but later discontinued, and the deans continued to play the dual role with the help of deputy deans. In corporate hospitals, we have an administrator and medical director. You need an administrative person to look after the HR, labour issues, etc.,” Supe said.