With the same unhealthy food served to everyone, patients with nutrition-sensitive diseases
Caregivers of patients from outside the city are camping in an open space of the civil hospital due to lack of free shelter. Photo: Jalal Qureshi/Express
KARACHI:
In many branches of alternative medicine, food is considered a natural remedy. Certain foods are proven to contribute to specific health conditions, while others contribute to common lifestyle diseases. Yet in Karachi’s district hospitals, where patients are served generic meals, food has become a source of harm rather than healing.
While globally, hospital meals are developed under the guidance of experts, in Sindh’s government hospitals, patients usually complain that the food is nutritionally inadequate. Many hospitals offer only one meal per day, and over the past decade, hospital administrations have closed their in-house kitchens and outsourced meal preparation to private contractors. Hospitals used to hire kitchen staff to prepare meals, but today 90% of hospitals use providers who are unfamiliar with patients’ individual nutritional needs.
Public hospital food budgets are tied to the number of beds, and administrators often try to limit patient admissions to reduce spending on food and medicine. The Ministry of Health calls for tenders for meals, including menus, after which hospitals award contracts to companies offering the lowest prices. Contractors typically prepare food in their own kitchens, although some use hospital kitchens with their staff. There is no system to check the quality of meals and foods are provided without the help of nutrition experts.
Although contractors claim to provide mutton twice a week, fish once and vegetables and lentils on other days, patients complain that hospital food seems ordinary, lacks nutrition and is served in a demeaning manner. Meals are delivered in steel trolleys, curries in open buckets and hygiene standards are ignored, leading many patients to bring food from home. Despite the hundreds of millions of rupees allocated each year for patient meals, complaints remain frequent.
At Saudabad Hospital, a patient, Muhammad Aslam, confirmed that meals were the same for everyone and were sometimes too spicy, making them unsuitable for his blood pressure. Another patient, Shafiq Ahmed, added that there was no system to monitor the quality of food or ensure that it meets patients’ needs. Similarly, at Lyari General Hospital, Akhtar Baloch said he was given only lentils and vegetables for four consecutive days, ignoring his health condition.
Lyari General Hospital has more than 300 beds, a meal budget of Rs 45 million, a partially outsourced kitchen, no dietitian and a patient occupancy rate of more than 50 percent. The 200-bed Liaquatabad hospital allocates Rs 27 million for meals and outsources the food through the lowest bid, also without a dietician. The New Karachi Hospital, also with 200 beds with a meal budget of 10 million rupees, and Korangi Hospital, with 200 beds and a budget of 40 million rupees, follow the same model and both report a patient occupancy rate of 50 to 60 percent.
On the other hand, some large hospitals offer more structured catering services. The civil hospital, with a budget of Rs 200 million and over 90 per cent patient admissions, prepares meals on site under the supervision of a nutritionist, offering mutton, fish, vegetables, lentils, boiled eggs and bread. The 2,000-bed Jinnah Hospital, with a budget of Rs 200 million, runs a scientifically managed kitchen where private dieticians supervise the preparation of meals, taking into account high and low protein requirements. Although the position of government dietitian has remained vacant due to legal issues, private experts ensure proper nutrition of patients, with an occupancy rate of around 95 percent.
Despite significant funding, the majority of public hospitals in Karachi struggle to provide adequate, hygienic and medically appropriate meals. Patients continue to face a uniform, poor-quality diet, often provided by providers unfamiliar with individual dietary needs. While a few major hospitals follow professional guidelines under the supervision of a dietitian, the system in most district hospitals leaves patients dissatisfied, highlighting the urgent need for qualified nutritionists, proper kitchens and quality controls to ensure that hospital meals meet health and hygiene standards.
