Karnataka to introduce special nutritional diets in govt hospitals

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Monday announced that a special nutritional diet plan aimed at aiding patient recovery will be introduced in government hospitals for the first time in the state.

Until now, patients admitted to government district and taluk hospitals—especially children, pregnant women, and new mothers—were served the same type of general food, the Health and Family Welfare Department said.

This programme is being implemented in collaboration with ISKCON. Earlier, all inpatients—including children, pregnant women, and new mothers—were provided with a common meal plan, officials said.

"This was not effective enough to meet their specific nutritional requirements. Since nutritional needs vary according to a patient’s health condition and age, providing the same diet to everyone was not suitable. To address this issue, the Government of Karnataka has completely revised the food system in government hospitals. Now, meals are categorized based on patients’ medical needs," the health department said in a statement.

Under the new system, meals have been divided into five key categories: General diet plan, therapeutic diet plan, pregnancy diet plan, postnatal diet plan and paediatric diet plan.

For instance, pregnant women will receive iron- and folic acid-rich meals essential for maternal health. New mothers will be given food that supports milk production and overall wellbeing. Proper nutrition will also help patients recover faster. Based on its success, this initiative is expected to be extended to other government hospitals in the state, it added.

According to the department, as part of the first phase, the programme will be launched at three major government hospitals in Bengaluru—CV Raman General Hospital, Jayanagar General Hospital, and KC General Hospital.

An agreement has been signed with ISKCON to supply meals daily to about 250 patients in each hospital. The Department of Health will bear the cost of Rs 1,37,45,700 for a period of nind months.

Every day, patients will be provided with breakfast, morning and evening snacks, lunch, and dinner, it added.