Mumbai: Hospitals are now being served by the hospitality industry. Many hotels are coming forward to feed patients and doctors on duty. Earlier, the ITC hotel, Parel, was serving the isolation ward at Kasturba Hospital.
Now, the Taj has tied up with the BMC to provide food to patients in isolation, as well as the medical students at Sion, Nair and KEM, who have so far subsisted on instant noodles and biscuits since their college canteens locked up in the wake of the lockdown.
Hundreds of overworked medical students, assisting the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation(BMC) in the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, were left to survive only on Maggi and biscuits after their college canteens shut shop.
Taking note, Taj Hotel has now joined hands with the BMC to provide sustenance to patients in Kasturba Hospital and three medical colleges- Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College (GSMC), Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College and TN Medical College.
“The hotel is providing daily lunch and dinner to the patients and their kin at Kasturba free of cost.
They are also catering to students of the three medical colleges who have not had much to eat after their messes and canteens closed down,” said a senior official from the BMC. The hotels will send 600 plates of food to Kasturba hospital, 750 packets to TN MedicalCollege,1,0
00tostudentsat the Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College and another 1,500 to Seth Gordhandas Sunderdas Medical College. What will be on these plates? Rice, vegetables, salad, bread, butter, fruits, juice and chocolate. Earlier, another five-star hotel, the ITC, was supplying food to patients in the isolation ward at a concessional rate.
Dr Kalyani Dongre, former president of the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD), who had written to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on March 24, seeking food for medical students said, “We are thankful to the government for listening to us and taking up the issue.” However, many patients admitted at Kasturba Hospital are still complaining about the food quality.
Remarking on this, a health official from the hospital said, “Patients expect us to give spicy, lips making foods. But they need to understand that they are patients and the foods we are recommending are for building their immunity.”
