KOCHI: The dietary kitchen (Oottupura) of Ernakulam General Hospital, which provides balanced and nutritional food to about 500-odd patients, has got a helping hand from V-guard.Kochouseph Chittilappilly, managing director, V-guard, offered Rs 10-lakh for its functioning. The hospital spends an amount of Rs 20,000 every month to provide free food to the inpatients.District Collector Sheik Pareeth said that Chittilappilly had agreed to provide Rs 10-lakh every year. Playback singer K J Yesudas and Justice V R Krishna Iyer have also given assistance of Rs 1-lakh each, for the continuous running of the kitchen. The ‘Ottupura’ also gets financial assistance from the labourers of Cochin Shipyard.‘Oottupura’ is the first of its kind in the country and is equipped with a kitchen to meet the 500-odd inpatients. The inpatients of the hospital are being provided three meals a day at their bedsides. The patients are given ovo-vegetarian food which consists of a balanced diet depending on the nutritional needs of different patients. Each patient is provided with a different menu as per the doctor’s directions. Six dietitians and about 18 other staff are responsible for the functioning of the kitchen.Stating that voluntary organisations have been promising help, Pareeth added that the individuals, institutions and organisations can come forward to provide assistance for the smooth functioning of ‘Oottupura.’ Those who spend lavishly for functions like marriages and other parties can offer a share of their total expense to help the poor inmates. The hospital also has plans to have a list of individuals and organisations who can help in the cause.Oottupura, by which the kitchen is fondly called, was Hospital Superintendent Dr Junaid Rahman’s brainchild. He came up with the idea after looking at the food trolleys at various private hospitals.P Rajeev, MP, gave Rs 15-lakh from the MP’s fund, Kochi Refinery gave Rs 10-lakh and the Hospital Development Society provided Rs 5-lakh for the construction of the kitchen.
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