GMC Anantnag to start meals for admitted patients within a month

Srinagar, Aug 08: Amid the concerns from patients, the Government Medical College Anantnag will start meals for the admitted patients within a month for which all the formalities have been completed.
The medical college had been working to set up the facility through which the required diet could be provided to the admitted patients. Officials said the facility aims to enhance patient care by ensuring that nutritional needs are met during hospital stays.
Principal GMC Anantnag, Prof (Dr) Rukhsana Najeeb said the process for starting meal service is in its last stage and the facility which would work 24/7 will be started in a month.
“We have floated a tender and completed all the formalities. We have also decided on a suitable place and finalised the diet chart. Within one month the facility will be made functional,” she said.
Prof Rukhsana said they will give a good patient diet to the admitted patients which will give relief to the patients who come from far-off places across south Kashmir.
“In future, we will be streamlining it further and we will give the diet as per the needs and based on diseases patients face,” she said, adding that they have also kept food for patients at subsidised rates at the hospital’s canteen.
The new medical college still lacked this facility. The patients and other concerned stakeholders had taken up the matter with medical college authorities several times but the issue was not resolved for years.
Due to the absence of this facility, the attendants of the patients are left with no option but to fetch meals for patients from hotels and eateries operating outside the hospital. “Providing meals directly at the medical facility alleviates the burden on patients and their families, allowing them to focus on recovery without the additional concern of arranging outside food,” said Showkat Ahmad, a patient from Anantnag.
He said that patients who reside nearby managed to get meals from homes but the patients from far-off places face problems and rely on the hotels outside the hospital. “In winter and during rains, attendants face a tough time in getting food for their patients. However, largely, with the necessary kitchen facility remaining absent at the hospital, people have been left to fend for themselves,” Ahmad said.
The attendants said that in all the major tertiary care hospitals, there is a meal service for patients. “It has been five years since the medical college was started and the facility is still missing,” said an attendant. “We can’t trust the quality of food outside. We have no option but to feed it to patients,” he said.