Charitable food supply shrinks outside major hospitals

Freshly cooked meals by charitable institutions have given way to pre-packaged food for many patients who live on the footpath outside the hospital

MUMBAI: Patients and relatives from two of the city’s key hospitals – KEM Hospital and Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) – are struggling to get adequate nutritive food, as free meals distributed by charitable groups have begun to shrink, amid the growing uncertainty around the availability of LPG.

Patients and their families wait outside the Tata Hospital area for free meals. Following the LPG cylinder crisis, most NGOs suspended free meal distribution at KEM and Tata Hospital areas. (Raju Shinde/HT Photo)

Hitesh Yadav, 36, a resident of Varanasi, who has been living on the footpath outside the civic-run KEM Hospital where he is seeking treatment for asthma, said the daily quota of four chapatis in his meal box was reduced to one since Thursday. “Fortunately, the quantity of rice and vegetables have not been reduced. However, while we received freshly cooked food five times a day from different groups earlier, it has now reduced to three,” said Yadav.

He was told by volunteers that the scale of cooking in kitchens of charitable organisations was affected due to the shortage of LPG in the market.

KEM records a footfall of around 6000 patients and around 170-180 admissions every day.

A similar situation prevails outside TMH, the country’s largest cancer facility, which sees a footfall of 3,500 patients across all OPDs every day. Freshly cooked meals by charitable institutions have given way to pre-packaged food for many patients who live on the footpath outside the hospital.

One of them is Vijay Das, from Medinipur, West Bengal, who has been undergoing treatment for blood cancer for almost a year-and-a-half. “The vegetarian thali given to us every day, came in limited quantity today. Many of us had to make do with milk,” said Das. “The supplies have not just reduced but getting food has become competitive – everyone races to get their share from the limited stock that arrives.”

Chumki Begum, 30, from Varanasi, who has been undergoing treatment for mouth cancer for the last seven months and can only drink fluids, said milk supply has been hit recently. “Milk and fruits used to come in abundance earlier. Now, that has also reduced, as part of an overall decline,” she said. Another patient’s wife said the disruption of food supply from charitable organisations is adding to the strain to their pockets. Beena Devi, 43, from Begusarai, Bihar, whose husband is being treated for kidney-related illness, said, “It would be some relief if we are allowed to cook using coal on the streets.”

The dean of Sion Hospital said its canteen was fully functional thanks to piped gas, while the dean of Rajawadi Hospital, in Ghatkopar, said they are getting by with adequate LPG stock.

Anand Mudhamaya Acharya, of Anand Ashram, which distributes food outside KEM every Friday said: “Although we have not faced disruptions yet, the LPG crisis can compel us to stop the work we have been doing for four years.”