State gives Rs 20 for 3 meals a day

A patient at a government hospital has to be fed three meals that should be nutritious and include milk and fruits. All this has to be accomplished within a budget of Rs 20 per day.

Hospital authorities admit the fact that in these times of rising prices, Rs 20 per general patient and Rs 28 for a patient on a high protein diet or a psychiatric patient is grossly inadequate. But before an increase in March 2006, it was a measly Rs 15. Even though costs of food items and fuel have escalated by 60-100 per cent in the last five years, the diet fund has remained the same in all hospitals. “The annual diet budget allocated to our 500-bed hospital is Rs 60 lakh. Quarterly, we are supposed to get Rs 15 lakh. We have received just Rs 11 lakh for the first quarter of this year and funds for the second quarter are yet to be released. It is difficult to give patients a wholesome meal thrice a day with such a paltry amount,” said Dr P. Sudershan Reddy, superintendent, Niloufer Hospital.

The menu in hospitals for breakfast is bread/upma and tea; for lunch, it is 30-40 gm of rice, a curry, sambar/dal and an egg or milk. Dinner consists or rice, dal and curry informed the chief dietician of Gandhi Hospital, Mr M. Narasimha Rao.

Ms Naseema, who had been just discharged from a government hospital, said, “Pata nehi chalta yeh pani hai ki dal... dudh bhi patla rehta. (can’t distinguish dal from water, even the milk is adulterated).” Her brother Md Azmat said, “Since we are from Medak, I couldn’t get homemade food for her.”

It’s not just the inadequacy of funds, the erratic release of funds is another cause of concern. Dr Sampath Kumar, superintendent of OGH said, “The problem lies in the delay in the release of funds.”

“I won’t say the quality and quantity of food given to patients of government hospitals are of a high standard but will label them ‘just okay’,” said one official. “How much can you afford for Rs 20?” he asked.

Mr J. Satyanarayana, principal secretary, health and family Welfare said, “We have already recommended the doubling of the amount — Rs 20 to Rs 40 — for general hospitals and Rs 28 to Rs 56 for mental asylums, but we are not sure when the proposal will be cleared. The release of funds depends on the finance department,” he said.