Kids left starving at PMC’s Nicmar COVID-19 centre

JUST 50 ML MILK A DAY PROVIDED FOR CHILDREN

Desperate parents, stuck inside, have been feeding them oily, spicy food at hand, as promised juice and biscuits are not supplied; now they have protested for proper food or permission to go out and get it

Toddlers and children below the age of seven, parked at the National Institute of Construction Management and Research (Nicmar) COVID-19 care centre (CCC) in Balewadi, are on a diet of just 50 ml of milk twice a day and nothing else provided by the authorities, forcing parents to feed them the available oily and spicy food.

This, when on paper the authorities are spending Rs 300 a day on each patient’s diet and there are strict directions from the district collector and Pune municipal commissioner to ensure that the quarantined are served balanced meals, irrespective of gender and age.

The centre has over 50 children, some of who have themselves tested positive to the virus or are there with their parents who are infected. The centre has a prescribed diet of milk, juice and biscuits for the kids, but has been serving only small portions of milk, skipping on the juice and biscuits. This has left parents desperate, especially positive mothers of negative infants, who cannot breastfeed their child.


“There is no consideration to the dietary needs of children in this centre. Babies need to be fed by the hour, but nothing is forthcoming. They keep crying through the day. How do we calm them when they cry from hunger? Some of these kids are COVID-19 positive. How do the authorities expect them to be cured without food, which is most critical to build their immunity,” pointed out Ganesh Swami, a resident of Bopodi and father of a three-year-old baby. He explained that a half-cup of milk not measuring more than 50 ml is given twice a day. “The kids above five years are able to eat khichadi and chapati, but what about the younger ones?” he asked.

A 29-year-old resident of Pashan with an eight-month-old baby describing her plight recounted, “My child has tested negative for the virus, while I’ve tested positive. My husband, too, is admitted at another centre. I have nobody to fetch food for me from outside and neither can I venture out. I am left begging other parents to spare some of their provision of milk for my child.”

Saturday saw these parents finally lose their patience and stage a dharna near the kitchen of the facility. “We’ve been complaining for a while but the staff are not paying any heed to our requests. Our protest was imminent. We are aware that we are here for treatment and cannot be demanding, but when basic needs were not being met, we had no other option. We are ready to pay for any additional food but it has to be made available,” the 29-year-old mother asserted.

Not just the quantity but also the quality of the food served is a contentious issue. “The chapatis are halfbaked and children experience stomach pain when they eat such food. We can adjust but the children turn fussy when served the same rice, dal or spicy khichadi every day. They cry for palatable food. However, the option of healthy but tasty fare such as shira or upma is not on the menu. Clearly no planning has gone into bringing us into such facilities. While stuffing us into ambulances, they assured us all needs of the children would be taken care of. But the reality is far from this and the children here are starving,” complained another mother of two children at the centre.

Registering their protest on Saturday, the parents demanded better provisioning for children or the permission for them to go out and fetch the required food. They also indicated willingness to pay for the food if it is made available at the canteen. Finally, the protest got across to the officials as senior civic officers rushed in to pacify the crowd of parents, offering to resolve the situation in a couple of days.

Caught on the backfoot, Jaydeep Pawar, assistant municipal commissioner who is in charge of the Nicmar centre, admitted to the shortage of food over the past few days. “I learnt of the protest. As per protocol, we aim to provide biscuits, juice and milk to the children admitted to our facility. However, due to delay in approvals, we’ve not been able to source the biscuits and the supply of juice has also been irregular. We are working on it and we will increase the quantum of milk being distributed given the requirement of the babies. The civic contractor has been instructed to resume the full dietary supplies without delay,” he told Mirror.

The apathy with which such facilities are being run is shocking to people who have been part of the war on the pandemic and privy to the risks and requirements of people caught in its web. “Children below the age of 12 fall in the vulnerable group. They require extra care and attention both from parents and doctors during the pandemic. If they’ve tested positive, they need to be pumped with nutrients and proteins. Dal-rice or khichadi cannot do the trick. Oily and spicy food kills immunity. These kids need fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts and whole grains such as maize, millet, oats, wheat, brown rice or starchy tubers and roots. Food from animal sources such as meat, fish, egg and milk has to be part of their diet. Biscuits need to be strictly avoided,” pointed out Dr Vikram Gaikwad, a dietitian who is also running COVID-19 clinic at Shaniwar Peth.