India, Dec. 29 -- With the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) poll approaching, residents of the city's eastern suburbs are banding together to seek improvements in civic hospitals and compel aspiring corporators to make health a prominent poll issue. The BMC's push for public private partnerships (PPP) at Shatabdi Hospital in Govandi and the Lallubhai Compound hospital in Mankhurd has emerged as a rallying point, with civil society groups raising awareness, formulating a citizens' charter for health, and conducting a door-to-door signature campaign highlighting the pitiable state of civic hospitals and shortages of doctors and staff.

"The western suburbs get all the attention, inspections and big ticket announcements. But in the e...