PCMC to improve healthcare services with Rs 100-crore social impact bonds

Additional Municipal Commissioner Vikas Dhakane said the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) will enter into an agreement with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which will serve as the intermediary.

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Unlike the six-month contract offered previously by the PCMC to temporary hospital staff, the private agencies have been asked to appoint employees for a three-year period. (File)

To improve healthcare services for the residents of Pimpri-Chinchwad, the civic body has decided to take recourse to social impacts bonds worth Rs 100 crore. Civic officials said the move is aimed at strengthening and bringing about drastic changes in the way medical and services are provided to the residents of the industrial city.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Vikas Dhakane said the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) will enter into an agreement with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which will serve as the intermediary.

“We will not float the bonds. It will be done by the UNDP. We will get the required funds to complete our projects within a set deadline. Initially, we don’t have to pay anything. After the completion of the projects, will repay the amount in phases,” he said.

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A committee has been appointed for the projects’ implementation. It includes the municipal commissioner, additional municipal commissioner, chief accounts and audit officer, health department chief and the YCMH dean.

The committee has been bestowed with all powers to take decision. “The committee will carry out a three-party agreement with the UNDP and a private financial and investment firm. It will also draft the terms and conditions and recruit employees for health services,” Dhakane added.

He said the plan is at the initial stage. “We will have to put the proposal before the general body (GB) meeting. After the GB approves the proposal, we will sign an agreement with the UNDP,” he said.

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The PCMC administration said the move will ensure major improvement in the medical facilities provided by civic-run hospitals. “At YCMH, we plan to set up two more operation theatres. Also, we plan to initiate major improvement in the medical services provided to pregnant women before and after delivery,” officials said.

In another move, the PCMC has planned to start a second centre offering free dialysis to kidney patients at the PCMC-run Thergaon Hospital. The PCMC standing committee on Wednesday approved the proposal, the civic administration said.

The civic body said the Om Jay Anand Charitable Trust has submitted a proposal to start the dialysis centre with seven machines.

“The trust is ready to provide free dialysis services to poor patients. Those who are not covered under any government schemes will be provided the free treatment. The PCMC will provide space and other facilities,” officials said.

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At present, YCMH offers dialysis facility to around 6,000 patients at nominal charges every year.

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

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