Hospital staff provide food too for Covid patients

TNN | Updated: Apr 19, 2020, 08:31 IST

A woman who came to buy essentials walks past the collectorate building in Pathanamthitta on Saturday

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With an aim to ensure a homely feeling to patients undergoing treatment for Covid-19, the staff of General Hospital in Pathanamthitta have made it part of their duty to prepare and serve food for the patients.
Under a food-for-patients programme started by the staff council, the hospital employees, including healthcare givers, are providing the food for those who are under isolation and also in observation.
“The staff has been given the freedom to embrace novel ideas for the benefit of others. Under the observation of the hospital dietician, we provide food to around 50 people, three times a day, through the kitchen ‘Santhwanam’,” said Dr Sajan Mathew, medical superintendent of the hospital.
M C Ajith Kumar, secretary, staff council, said both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes are provided apart from fruits and juices. “We give them local delicacies also, for which food materials are offered by employees living nearby,” said Kumar, an optometrist at the hospital. Due to the lockdown, staff coming from distant places are now staying here. They too have benefitted from the initiative.
Meanwhile, as part of Break the Chain campaign, radiographers in hospital have taken the initiative of wearing scrub suits, stitched at their own expenses, while on duty as part of infection-control measure. “After duty, they change the attire and keep the scrub suit for washing in a polythene cover. This ensures that no one gets infection while travelling and at home,” Dr Mathew said.
Around nine radiographers, who also work in isolation rooms to take portable X-rays, have adopted the new dress etiquette apart from the regular overcoat to protect others, including their family members from getting any kind of infection.tnn