A health report based on a survey conducted across the city this year states that on an average 9.1% of the households income is spent on medical costs of the family. A report released by Praja Foundation, a non-profit working for better governance, stated that while there has been a rise in the cost of medical treatment, more than 76 per cent of the household did not have any medical insurance for the family in this year. As per the data provided 70 per cent of the highest socio-economic group members and 80 per cent of the lowest socio-economic group members do not have medical insurance. The citizen-driven survey was carried out by Hansa Research by collecting house-to-house survey of 20,078 households this year. Speaking about the ward-wise data on how much percentage of annual family income is spent on medical cost, Milind Mhaske, Programme Director, Praja Foundation, said,"As per the data collected M/E ward i.e Govandi, Mankhurd area's resident spend highest per cent of their family income (12%) on medical cost. There is just one public hospital and 38 % of the population access public hospital, while 56 % of the ward's population access private hospitals." Similarly, the residents of P/South ward - Goregoan West, spend 11 % of their annual family income on medical cost. While it has two public hospitals, 44% of the resident access public hospitals and 56% of them access private hospitals. "The lack of health medical insurance leads to more expenditure from the annual income," added Mhaske. King Circle resident, Manilal Nandu, social activist, who help people to get their medical insurance, said, "There are a lot of people who claim the health insurance but they face a lot of technical issues. Due to which most of them end up spending from their own pocket. The technical fault depends on the health insurance company it does not matter whether they were admitted to public hospitals or private hospital." Case Study MEDICLAIM WOULD’VE HELPED: ANDHERI MAN On a sunny afternoon, while Suryank Rao was going to his workplace, the cab in which he was travelling, rammed into a stationary vehicle. He was immediately taken to the government-run Saint George’s hospital for preliminary treatment. He suffered injuries on his hand and needed surgery. The family decided to shift him to a private hospital as the surgery had to be done urgently. The problem was, Rao did not have a mediclaim. “The injuries were not serious but my left hand needed surgery. My family did not want to waste time and opted for a private hospital,” said Rao, a resident of Andheri. After being discharged from Saint George’s, he was taken to a private hospital where the bill amounted to Rs 1.30 lakh. Rao’s family paid the amount. His family members agreed that a medical insurance would have surely eased out the sudden monetary pressure on them. ALL SAVINGS WERE SPENT: MISHAP VICTIM'S KIN Aishwarya Vanjare, who met with a road accident in July, had to undergo multiple surgeries in the charitable hospital she was admitted to. Vanjare’s family was not in a position to clear the bill amount of over nine lakh. Vanjare, 17, lost her parents long back and lives with her grandmother who earns Rs 7,000 a month. She does not have a health insurance. While BEST authorities have decided to investigate the case and give due compensation, her family tried to pay Rs one lakh. Speaking on how they managed to pay the expenses, her uncle Prakash Vanjare said, “The accident made us realise how important a health insurance is. We had to spend our savings for her daily medical expenditure. We even had to collect funds from various trusts and NGOs to pay some part of the hospital bill. While we earn only a few thousands of rupees, not having an insurance made us spent most of our savings.”

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