The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has voiced its objection to the Thane civic body's plan to establish a cancer treatment center at the Global Covid Hospital in the city, saying it must first expand the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital at Kalwa where 18 patients died in a 24-hour period last month.
Avinash Jadhav, Thane-Palghar chief of the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), told reporters here that the load on the Kalwa hospital has increased manifold and patients there are facing untold miseries due to its poor infrastructure. Jadhav said a trust will soon start a cancer facility at the Global Covid Hospital in Saket area.
However, he said the Global Covid Hospital premises and its equipment must be used to upgrade and expand the Kalwa hospital. It is the need of the hour, he said. MNS leader said they are not at all opposed to a cancer hospital in Thane. The TMC can give another piece of land to the trust to start the facility, he said. The 40-year-old Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital at Kalwa was under the spotlight last month after 18 patients died there in a 24-hour period.
If their demand is not met, MNS, according to Jadhav, will file a judicial case. According to him, TMC has budgeted Rs 26 crore for renovations at the Kalwa hospital, but the money will be completely wasted because the building is outdated. He stated that since the hospital is already 40 years old, it should be demolished and reconstructed, which will cost at least Rs 100 crore.