For many of the new mothers and cancer patients in government hospitals in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, nutritious food has become a tool of transformation to bring about a change in their emotional well-being.
This has been possible because of Ronita Ghosh, the founder of Jikoni Foundation, often recognised as “Dabba Didi” in the corridors of Sassoon hospital.
Ghosh cooks cooking khichidi and offers it to ambulance drivers, policemen on duty and to relatives of Covid patients. This was during the second lockdown in April 2021.
On Friday, Ghosh announced a new initiative, Poshan kits.
“The concept of Poshan, which means nutrition food bank, is to focus on the food and nutrition for people in need. We are offering Poshan kits in government-run hospitals in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad,” said Ghosh.
She is working closely with government run hospitals where cases of malnutrition and anemia in new mothers are widely spread.
“There is yet another category which often faces a major problem of nutrition, that is cancer patients in the low-income group, who cannot afford to stop treatment and often don’t get enough nutritious food. Hence, I thought of creating Poshan kits,” she says.
The Poshan kit consists of 5kg rice (parboiled brown Kerala rice), 7 kinds of lentils of ½ kg each, 1 litre of coconut oil, 1kg of daliya (buckwheat), 1kg of raggi flour, ½ kg ghee, 1/2kg sattu, ½ kg jaggery powder and 250 grams of peanuts, which will be replenished every month for a new mother or a cancer patient.
{{/usCountry}}The Poshan kit consists of 5kg rice (parboiled brown Kerala rice), 7 kinds of lentils of ½ kg each, 1 litre of coconut oil, 1kg of daliya (buckwheat), 1kg of raggi flour, ½ kg ghee, 1/2kg sattu, ½ kg jaggery powder and 250 grams of peanuts, which will be replenished every month for a new mother or a cancer patient.
{{/usCountry}}A Poshan kit costs around ₹2,500 to a donor and she has 600 such kits to be distributed. “Food has become a reason to talk, to open up their emotions and also become their tool of transformation of their well being,” said Ghosh
“We also have plans to open a Poshan food bank café where everyone can come and eat free of cost and with dignity in a clean hygienic place. This idea came about while serving food in Sassoon hospital where there was hardly any place to sit and eat,” said Ghosh, who has lived for 11 years in Kenya and worked in the social sector.
The Poshan food bank will also distribute ‘The Happiness Dabba’ to atleast 19,000 needy persons daily.
All her khichidi servings are prepared as per directions of dieticians and in consultation with doctors.