Kidwai to BBMP: Shift Indira Canteen out of our campus
Sunitha Rao R | TNN | Jan 26, 2019, 06:58 IST
SPACE CONSTRAINTS: Kidwai, a 1,040-bed hospital, sees over 1,500 OPD consultations every day. (In pic) Indira ... Read MoreBENGALURU: The state government-run Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology has asked the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to shift the Indira Canteen located on its campus elsewhere.
Under the civic body’s programme to provide Indira Canteens in each of the city’s 198 wards, the BBMP had set up the canteen of Siddapura ward on Kidwai campus. It had started functioning a year ago.
Kidwai authorities recently discussed the matter with BBMP, stating that the hospital premises is losing out on 3,000 sq ft of space at a time when it needs space to carry out its own activities. As the hospital has its own canteen catering to more than 1,000 persons (patients’ relatives) and the mobile food units of a charitable trust catering to the needs of another 1,500 people, the response to the Indira Canteen is poor, they pointed out. When TOI visited the canteen during lunch hour, there were only a handful of customers.
“The canteen has more footfall in the morning. We serve close to 380-400 plates of breakfast every day. In the afternoon, another service provider supplies free lunch between 12.30 to 1.30pm. We get people for lunch only after 1.30pm, once the supply there is over. At night, not more than 90 plates of dinner are served,” said an official in the counter at the canteen.
Kidwai authorities discussed the matter with mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun recently and a letter was also written to the BBMP commissioner. The civic body has spent Rs 28.5 lakh on setting up each Indira Canteen.
“ It’s true that the public, other than patients’ relatives, are not coming to eat in the canteen. There is a charitable service that provides free food at the hospital. However, we will be able to shift only if there is no damage to the structure. I’m told it’s not easy. No such questions were raised when the canteen was set up a year ago. It was set up with the intention to help poor patients’ relatives who come from different parts of the country,” the mayor said.
“We have appealed to the BBMP authorities to shift the canteen. We are facing acute shortage of space to expand our services. It’s the BBMP’s responsibility to figure out a better place to continue the operations of the canteen,” said Dr C Ramachandra, director of Kidwai.
The letter to the BBMP also mentions about food disposed by the canteen staff on the campus, leading to hygiene issues. “The canteen serves not more than some 30 plates, but raises bills for more than 150. This needs to be investigated by the civic body, as food waste is dumped on our campus daily,” said an official from Kidwai.
“If the canteen is shifted to another place in the ward, it will be helpful for both citizens and the hospital,” said another official from Kidwai.
Under the civic body’s programme to provide Indira Canteens in each of the city’s 198 wards, the BBMP had set up the canteen of Siddapura ward on Kidwai campus. It had started functioning a year ago.
Kidwai authorities recently discussed the matter with BBMP, stating that the hospital premises is losing out on 3,000 sq ft of space at a time when it needs space to carry out its own activities. As the hospital has its own canteen catering to more than 1,000 persons (patients’ relatives) and the mobile food units of a charitable trust catering to the needs of another 1,500 people, the response to the Indira Canteen is poor, they pointed out. When TOI visited the canteen during lunch hour, there were only a handful of customers.
“The canteen has more footfall in the morning. We serve close to 380-400 plates of breakfast every day. In the afternoon, another service provider supplies free lunch between 12.30 to 1.30pm. We get people for lunch only after 1.30pm, once the supply there is over. At night, not more than 90 plates of dinner are served,” said an official in the counter at the canteen.
Kidwai authorities discussed the matter with mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun recently and a letter was also written to the BBMP commissioner. The civic body has spent Rs 28.5 lakh on setting up each Indira Canteen.
“ It’s true that the public, other than patients’ relatives, are not coming to eat in the canteen. There is a charitable service that provides free food at the hospital. However, we will be able to shift only if there is no damage to the structure. I’m told it’s not easy. No such questions were raised when the canteen was set up a year ago. It was set up with the intention to help poor patients’ relatives who come from different parts of the country,” the mayor said.
“We have appealed to the BBMP authorities to shift the canteen. We are facing acute shortage of space to expand our services. It’s the BBMP’s responsibility to figure out a better place to continue the operations of the canteen,” said Dr C Ramachandra, director of Kidwai.
The letter to the BBMP also mentions about food disposed by the canteen staff on the campus, leading to hygiene issues. “The canteen serves not more than some 30 plates, but raises bills for more than 150. This needs to be investigated by the civic body, as food waste is dumped on our campus daily,” said an official from Kidwai.
“If the canteen is shifted to another place in the ward, it will be helpful for both citizens and the hospital,” said another official from Kidwai.
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