Hospital canteen serves unhealthy food to visitors
Srinagar: The only canteen functioning inside the main building of the Bone and Joints Hospital Barzulla, is serving attendants with unhygienic food on daily basis. The canteen according to the visitors is running amidst filthy and unclean conditions.
The unhygienic food is now taking a toll on those who are accompanying their patients and after the routine of unending struggle of taking care of patients, what are they being served is the substandard food under unhealthy conditions.
Muhammad Yaqoob Dar, hailing from Beerwah Budgam, has been staying with his patient in the hospital for last 15 days. He has been continuously visiting the canteen, as it is difficult for him to get the daily eating items from his home.
According to Yaqoob he is forced to eat the stuff that is being served at the canteen which apart from being unhygienic, is also costlier compared to the market outside.
“What they serve is totally unhealthy, and every day I am forced to eat that food because of my own compulsions,” he said.
Interestingly, the kitchen which is linked to the canteen is functioning in filthy conditions, with utensils lying unwashed, and seems that the dusting has been carried out ages ago.
“A cup of tea if ordered will be served in an unwashed cup, making it total unhygienic,” said a visitor.
In addition, the canteen which is running in the main building of the hospital—a non-smoking zone—is free for everyone to smoke openly raising rules and regulations to dust.
Apart from being unhygienic, the canteen is also minting extra money from the attendants. For a cup of tea, including snacks rupees 20 are charged, which is costlier than what costs in the market.
“For a cup of tea including snacks, they will charge you rupees 20, which is only 15 in the market,” said another attendant, adding that the prices should have been low in the canteen compared to the market.
When contacted, Medical Superintendent, Bone & Joints Hospital, Dr Abdul Rasheed Badoo, initially refused to comment, given the direction from Principal GMC about not talking to the press over phone.
He, however, said that there were constraints of space in the hospital which is making it difficult to keep a check on such issues, “there are constraints of space, otherwise we would have shifted the canteen to some other place,” he said.
On the issue of overpricing he said that he will look into the matter, “on the issue of over pricing and open smoking in the canteen, I assure you that proper action will be taken against the violators,” he said.
KV Correspondent
