Complaints over mess food continue to haunt AIIMS

NEW DELHI: Despite shutting down two hostel mess and a cafeteria, the problem faced by the resident doctors and students of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) appear to be far from over.
In an unplanned visit to the mess of Hostel No. 8, the doctors found serious irregularities in the quality and hygiene protocols regarding food prepared there.

Dr Vinay Kumar, member of the Resident Doctors Association (RDA), AIIMS, said the mess organisers continue to flout norms. “We found rotten and fungus-covered vegetables in the storage. The employees were not donning masks, hand gloves and head caps, which are mandatory,” he said. 

Kumar said that the matter will be raised in the meeting of the Food Safety Committee scheduled on Monday.  “We will discuss how to bring a permanent solution to the issues. We can’t wait for another inspection to highlight issue related to the health of the residents and students,” he added. Last month, after an uproar from the resident doctors over a series of issues detected, the AIIMS administration decided to shut down a mess and a cafe in two hostels. 

The doctors also took to Twitter and called the issue a major health hazard. The medicos highlighted irregularities related to the hygienic conditions and poor quality of food, such as rotten vegetables, fungus growing and ants roaming in the freezer, live rats in the cleaning area, lizards in the flour storage area, and mess workers working without gloves or aprons.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) took suo moto cognizance of the matter and have sent its team for inspection.  The officials corroborated the complaints as several food samples taken from the mess failed in quality tests by the agency.