India, June 11 -- The monsoon has only just arrived in Mumbai but the city's public health infrastructure is already under strain. Exposing a critical gap in preparedness is the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) suspended public diagnostic scheme, Aapli Chikitsa ('Your Diagnosis').

Under the scheme, the BMC plans to roll out diagnostic services at 498 civic health institutions-including 440 HBT clinics, 30 maternity homes, three urban health centres, five specialty hospitals, 16 suburban hospitals, and its four major hospitals in Mumbai. Launched in 2019 as a flagship initiative to provide free or low-cost diagnostic tests at municipal health centres, Aapli Chikitsa has been non-operational at a time when seasonal illnesses are ...