Free Food For Mothers Staying At The Children’s Hospital In Chennai

Mothers of children admitted in the Institute of Child Health in Egmore have to stay back for a minimum of one day and due to lack of food availability go hungry. This has led to a noon meal assistance project for patients’ caretakers wherein free meals will be provided to the mothers staying in the hospital report the Times of India.

Feeding The Caregivers

The initiative is a public-private partnership, the doctors at the institute told the publication. The institute that has a capacity of 800 patients, have 70 percent of them coming from out of Chennai. “Most mothers are daily wagers. We have women who stay with their ailing children here for more than two months,” the staff told the Times of India.

The report further says that the health institute has received ration in the form of 750kg of rice, 300kg of dhal and 300 litres of oil with the courtesy of a private donor for the initiative. 200 women are to be identified by the hospital who have been staying to take care of their children for over a month and they’ll be given midday meals. These meals, says Arasar Seeralar, the hospital’s director will be cooked by the nutrition department of the institute. The project is intended to expand after the success of the initial steps.

“I eat at the Amma Unavagam on campus only as a last resort as the food there upsets my stomach,” Saritha who is a daily wager and has been in the hospital for over four months taking care of her son suffering from leukaemia told the Times of India. She hasn’t been able to meet her other two children and her husband right from the time her son had been admitted to the Institute of Child Health.