AMC budget meet turns stormy over VS Hospital

Ahmedabad: The AMC's general board meeting opened on Thursday with raised voices and rising tempers. As ruling BJP and opposition Congress councillors debated allocations for VS Hospital, the school board and MJ Library, the house descended into sharp exchanges. By the end of the day, papers had been thrown, a walkout staged and suspension demands raised.The house took up the proposed allocations for VS Hospital, the school board and MJ Library, but it was the VS Hospital budget that triggered the most dramatic scenes. Senior councillor Iqbal Sheikh alleged that the proposed figures — Rs 257.59 crore for 2025-26 and Rs 2012.57 crore for 2026-27 — were "merely for show" and disconnected from the reality faced by patients.
"If such a large budget is being approved, why are poor patients in Ahmedabad not getting treatment?" Sheikh asked. He questioned why, according to him, not a single super-speciality department was operational at VS Hospital and alleged that patients were being directly referred to SVP Hospital. "Why is VS Hospital being deliberately shut down? I refuse to be part of a false budget. It is a sin to remain silent when the interests of the poor are betrayed," he said.In a dramatic protest, Sheikh threw the budget papers on the mayor's desk and walked out of the session. BJP councillors immediately demanded his suspension, calling the act unacceptable.The criticism did not end there. During the same discussion, councillor Rajshree Kesari alleged, "VS Hospital had witnessed 10 scandals in the last 10 years. No serious action had been taken in cases related to illegal clinical trials conducted at the hospital."The debate then shifted to the school board budget, where opposition councillor Jagdish Rathod levelled further allegations. He accused the ruling party of presenting manipulated figures in the budget and claimed that children in school board-run institutions were given small-sized uniforms. "Not a single BJP councillor's child studies in a school board-managed school," he said, adding that teachers were burdened with 70% administrative work. He also alleged that English-medium schools were being run by contract migrant teachers.Responding to these charges, standing committee chairman Devang Dani rejected the criticism. "Children from private schools seek admission in school board schools. School board students receive AI education," he said, defending the administration's initiatives.Tensions briefly escalated during the school board debate when a female Congress councillor used controversial words on the floor of the house. Mayor Pratibha Jain ordered the remarks to be expunged from the official record.By the end of the first day, the budget session had turned into a high-decibel political showdown, with both sides trading charges over the state of public healthcare and municipal education.