Mumbai: The BMC scrapped its plan to operate Borivali’s Bhagwati Hospital under a public-private partnership (PPP) model after months of backlash from labour unions and opposition parties over fears of expensive healthcare.However, the civic body will continue with PPP for hospitals in the low-income M-East ward, an area with a large population in poor health, including Mankhurd’s Lallubhai Compound Hospital and the newly constructed Shatabdi Hospital in Govandi.Dr Chandrakant Pawar, chief medical superintendent of peripheral hospitals, confirmed the Bhagwati Hospital decision on Monday. “Union minister Piyush Goyal told us to cancel the tender, so we did. BMC will be running this hospital on its own,” he said.Goyal, who is the MP from Mumbai North, which includes Borivali, had earlier stated: “No privatisation of Bhagwati Hospital will be done, and services to patients will be offered under the Ayushman Bharat scheme. It will be run on a no-profit, no-loss basis by the BMC or a charitable organisation.”Despite the mention of charitable organisations, Dr Pawar clarified no NGO or trust would be involved in managing the hospital. Several top private and expensive hospitals in the city operate under charitable trust models.Just last week, the BMC tendered another PPP contract for a newly built 580-bed teaching hospital located within the campus of the existing 220-bed Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya Shatabdi Hospital in Govandi, a decade after the plan for a medical college in the area was first proposed. All of these PPP projects have a term of 30 years in tender documents with a provision for extension for 30 more years.“We are moving ahead with the PPP model for Lallubhai Compound Hospital and Shatabdi Hospital. There is no such plan for M T Agarwal Hospital as of now. We have not decided about a PPP for Krantiveer Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Hospital,” Dr Pawar said.Faiyaz Alam Shaikh, a local resident and founder of the Govandi Citizens’ Welfare Forum, said Shatabdi Hospital is the only tertiary care facility in the area and frequently overcrowded and under-resourced. “Additional health facilities are needed here to accommodate more people. People run from pillar to post during critical medical emergencies. Models like PPP risk increasing costs,” he said.There are more than 8 lakh people in the M-East ward and only one BMC-run tertiary care hospital. In areas like Lallubhai Compound under it, most are project-affected rehabilitated families. A 2018 Praja report stated the average family income in its slum clusters is Rs 7,802 per month.Ashok Jadhav, who heads Municipal Mazdoor Union, said, “We are opposed to all models where BMC hands over services to private players.”