MUMBAI: Tuberculosis treatment and diagnosis in the city has got a major boost with the BMC allocating Rs 90.61 crore to give the programme more teeth.A provision of Rs 16.15 crore has also been made to strengthen primary health centres that will soon start offering free diagnostic services.An amount of Rs 3311.73, which is around 13% of the overall budget, has been earmarked for healthcare. It's a marginal increase from the allocation of 9%-10% that was made in the previous few years. While experts have hailed the attention towards health, many are unhappy that the money for creating and strengthening of health infrastructure has been slashed by 38%.Additional municipal commissioner IS Kundan however said that funds have been allocated for crucial areas. "We plan to add 400 ventilators so that there is one with every ICU bed . A provision of 30 crore has been proposed," she said. The budget has also touched upon another neglected area of burns care. This financial year, there are plans to improve the existing burns centres at Kasturba, KEM and Sion hospitals , while also setting up standalone ones.For TB control , 14 additional sites have been started to facilitate early diagnosis of drug resistant tuberculosis. There is a proposal to upgrade the lab facilities at KEM and Sewri TB Hospital. Kundan added that dispensaries will be spruced up to carry out x-rays, TB culture and other blood tests."A unique programme 'aapli chikitsa' will be launched through dispensaries, where Mumbaikars can access basic diagnostic tests. The services will be outsourced to private agencies but it will essentially stop patients from flocking to major hospitals," said Kundan. Mumbai has 183 dispensaries and the 2017-18 budget has proposed to add more ten more in the years to come. The BMC also proposes to add 816 posts of doctors to boost manpower in the peripheral hospitals.Milind Mhaske, project director, Praja Foundation hailed the BMC's plan of strengthening the city's primary health services. "When there is a demand supply gap, the best approach is to strengthen the primary services rather than building super-specialty hospitals," he said.

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