Fish no longer on Wenlock Hospital menu.

MANGALURU: Fish is out of the in-patient menu card at the District Government Wenlock Hospital here from April 1.
This is the only district government hospital to provide fish diet to its in-patients. But the new order from the health and family welfare services department dated November 20, 2014, states that only pure vegetarian meals will be provided to all patients.
This is one of the conditions stated by the director of the department while calling for tenders to provide diet food for government hospital patients for 2015-16.
Wenlock provided fish curry thrice a week for lunch, eggs two days in a week and vegetarian meals twice a week to patients. The tender amount for the food inclusive of fish for 2014-15 was Rs 1.1 crore per year and without fish, Rs 75 lakh. The contractor’s bills, amounting to Rs 25 lakh, from January this year have not been paid.
Health minister UT Khader reacted to the development, saying, “The director had visited Wenlock twice and recommended nutritional, locally available vegetarian diet to all patients. He said patients from all over the state come to this hospital and providing fish was not correct and vegan diet would be the proper way,’’ he said.
But Khader said he had told the director to reconsider the decision of taking fish out of the menu. “Ultimately the patient’s health is important. If non-veg diet is introduced, some hospitals may give chicken. So to make it uniform, vegan diet has been introduced. We are in talks with Iskcon to provide food,’’ he added.
Khader said he had, however, no doubt about the nutritional value of fish. “How it has to be given to patients and in what form will be discussed with dieticians,’’ he added.
A doctor at the Wenlock Hospital said: “The fish fare did not mean patients got a big piece; it was usually small varieties of mackerel or sardines and often one piece. The contactor cannot afford to give big pieces to 650 to 700 patients thrice a week considering how costly fish is.”
Dr Rajeshwari HR, superintendent of the hospital, “Of the total in-patient attendance, only 30% is local.”