According to the sources, in the last two days, the kitchen has served meal to 300 outsiders everyday. Even on a Saturday, when the Out-Patients department (OPD) is only functional for half day, and the hospital staff also leaves early, the kitchen had served food to 300 people.
The much-popular and modernised ‘kitchen’ started in Delhi government’s Lok Nayak hospital is turning into a ‘canteen’ with outsiders visiting the hospital to get meal at cheaper rates.
According to the sources, in the last two days, the kitchen has served meal to 300 outsiders everyday. Even on a Saturday, when the Out-Patients department (OPD) is only functional for half day, and the hospital staff also leaves early, the kitchen had served food to 300 people.
“There is a major confusion among the general public. People are saying that the government has called this kitchen as a ‘canteen’ for Aam Aadmi. It is extremely difficult to differentiate between the attendants and the outsiders,” a senior doctor from the hospital said requesting anonymity.
The state-of-the-art kitchen was inaugurated on January 7. The first automated hospital kitchen is equipped with modern technologies, including vegetable peelers and cutters, roti maker and rice cooker. It will serve food items such as idli-sambhar, kheer and kebabs.
Delhi Health Minister, Satyender Jain after inaugurating the kitchen said in his tweet “Aam Aadmi Canteen pilot project started at the LNH hospital. Rs 10 per meal for all attendants, staffers and people visiting the hospital.”
Now according to the sources, with the government calling it a ‘canteen’, the general public is also coming to the hospital. But, this is creating a major problem.
“This is not a canteen. It’s all because of this confusion. We soon have to find ways to make things clear,” said another senior doctor from the hospital.
The automated kitchen has been designed by the Delhi Institute of Hotel Management (DIHM). The institute has also trained the hospital’s dieticians and kitchen staffers. The project was assigned by Former Delhi Health Secretary SCL Das.
In July 2015, the Delhi Dialogue Commission had come up with the ambitious Aam Aadmi Canteen. The canteen was to serve safe, nutritious, and delicious food for just Rs 5-10. The plan was approved by the Delhi government. The canteen was to cater to rickshaw-pullers, daily-wage labourers, construction workers, and others employed in high labour-intensive work.
Meanwhile, the administration is also finding ways to deal with the problem. “We are identifying ways to differentiate among the patients, attendants and the outsiders,’ said a senior Aam Aadmi party leader.
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