Mumbai Civic Hospitals Set for Peer Review System to Strengthen Accountability and Healthcare Services

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning a new peer-review system for its civic hospitals to improve accountability, identify operational gaps and strengthen healthcare services across Mumbai.

Under the proposed system, deans of municipal hospitals will visit other civic hospitals, review their day-to-day functioning, identify areas that need attention and suggest corrective steps. The initiative is expected to encourage hospital administrators to share feedback and improve services through regular reviews.

BMC Plans Peer Reviews Among Civic Hospital Deans

The new system will allow senior medical administrators to assess the functioning of their sister hospitals. For example, the dean of one major civic hospital could visit another hospital and review areas such as administration, staff availability and overall operations.

Prajakta Verma Lavangare, Additional Municipal Commissioner (City), who also oversees the health department, said peer reviews are commonly used in national and international academic and healthcare settings. The BMC plans to use the approach to create a system where medical administrators can review each other's work and highlight areas requiring improvement.

The initiative is aimed at making hospital management more accountable while encouraging administrators to exchange practical ideas and improve daily operations.

Staff Attendance and Availability to Be Monitored

The peer-review plan comes at a time when the civic administration is paying closer attention to the attendance and availability of doctors and other healthcare workers at municipal hospitals.

Hospital deans have been instructed to ensure that doctors are not only present at the hospital but are also available and carrying out their assigned responsibilities.

The civic administration has indicated that most doctors are reporting for duty as expected. However, where attendance or duty-related concerns are established, the BMC will follow the required procedures, including inquiries and disciplinary action where necessary.

Standard Checklist Could Make Hospital Reviews More Effective

The proposed peer-review process has also raised the need for a clear and consistent evaluation system.

Health activist Chetan Kothari suggested that the BMC develop a standard checklist covering important aspects of hospital functioning. He said visiting deans should use the checklist during inspections and submit detailed reports highlighting deficiencies and recommending corrective measures.

A structured review format could help ensure that hospital visits focus on measurable improvements rather than becoming only routine inspections.

Assistant Municipal Commissioners to Join Health Reviews

The BMC is also bringing assistant municipal commissioners into its health-related field visits. Officials will monitor primary healthcare facilities in their respective wards along with services operated through outsourcing and public-private partnerships.

This expanded monitoring approach is expected to give the civic administration a better view of healthcare services at the local level.

BMC Plans Performance-Based Monitoring of Outsourced Services

The civic administration is also working on a performance-based monitoring system for several outsourced healthcare services.

The proposed approach will use a Quality-and-Cost-Based Selection (QCBS) mechanism along with service-level indicators. These indicators will help the BMC evaluate whether private operators are meeting defined service standards.

The combined focus on hospital peer reviews, staff attendance, ward-level monitoring and performance indicators is intended to strengthen accountability across Mumbai's civic healthcare network and support more consistent public health services.