Out-patients, visitors await opening of Amma Canteen at CMCH

Officials have asked Govt. for date to open the canteen

January 26, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 05:33 am IST - COIMBATORE:

The Amma Canteen constructed on the premises of Coimbatore Medical College Hospital.— Photo: K. Ananthan

The Amma Canteen constructed on the premises of Coimbatore Medical College Hospital.— Photo: K. Ananthan

The Coimbatore Corporation runs close to 10 Amma Canteens in the city and almost all of them see good flow of customers every day.

Yet, there is no clue when the Corporation would throw open the Amma Canteen at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, which has not been put to use though works were completed over three months ago.

The shutters facing Trichy Road and the hospital building are closed and the window glasses are covered in blanket of dust.

Towards the northern end of the canteen – within the compound and on the pedestrian pathway outside - are used liquor bottles and plastic tumblers and other waste reflecting the building not being put to use.

While taking up the construction in 2014, the Corporation said that it wanted to establish the canteen to provide quality food at affordable cost to those attending to patients admitted to the hospital. It was modelled on the lines of the one the Chennai Corporation had established at a Government hospital there.

But the delay seems to be defeating the objective. M. Yashoda of Edayarpalayam says it will be better if the canteen is started at the earliest because it will help those visiting patients have food right at the hospital and thereby get more time to spend with the patient. She was there to visit her ailing mother.

The CMCH administration serves food thrice a day to in-patients. But none for the visitors, who are dependent on the restaurants opposite the hospital.

Sources in the Coimbatore Corporation say that if the canteen has to serve its objective, then the timings have to be synchronised with the visiting hours at the hospital. If not, it will serve only commuters and others, as any other Amma Canteen.

Senior officials in the civic body say that they have taken up the issue of delay with the State Government and have asked for date to open the canteen at the earliest. They deny the argument that the timings have to be synchronised with the visiting hours saying that in any case the out-patients and those accompanying them will stand to gain. The hospital on any given date has around 1,200 in-patients and about 5,000 out-patients.

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