The daily food allocation for patients at Dhaka Medical College Hospital is inadequate to provide nutritious meals amid rising food prices, with the hospital director acknowledging that the existing budget falls short of current requirements.
The hospital allocates Tk 175 per patient for four meals a day, including 15% VAT. After VAT, the effective allocation stands at around Tk 149. According to hospital sources, Tk 53.67 is allocated for breakfast, Tk 52.79 for lunch, Tk 30.87 for an afternoon snack and Tk 37.67 for dinner.
“If the contractor makes even 10% profit, the amount falls to around Tk 135. At current market prices, this amount is genuinely inadequate for what is needed,” hospital Director Brigadier General Md Asaduzzaman told The Daily Industry.
He said the hospital has already requested the health ministry to increase the allocation. Patients and their relatives have particularly complained about the quality of lunch and dinner. They said the meals often lack variety and nutrition, while the curry is especially poor and the rice is sometimes badly prepared.
Abid Ahmed, who has spent 18 days at the hospital with a patient awaiting surgery, said the curry provided by the hospital was poor and difficult to eat.
“If I buy food from outside, the cost is high, so the rice has to be eaten out of necessity. I have to buy the curry from outside,” he said, adding that breakfast was comparatively satisfactory. Another patient’s relative said the quality of lunch and dinner was very low, with watery rice and curries containing little beyond turmeric and salt.
Protein intake declining: Health ministry data shows that the daily food allocation was increased from Tk 125 to Tk 175 during the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, patients received around 53-65 grams of protein a day.
Officials said the amount has since declined to approximately 40-45 grams. Nutrition experts warned that inadequate protein, calories, vitamins and minerals could slow patients’ recovery, particularly because different medical conditions require different diets.
Nazma Shaheen, professor at Dhaka University’s Institute of Food and Nutrition Science, told The Daily Industry that food is as important as medicine for patients. “Patients cannot be cured with medicine alone. Different patients need different diets according to their physical condition. A general diet cannot meet every patient’s needs,” she said.
She added that patients should receive the required calories, protein, vitamins and minerals through properly planned meals.
Shaheen stressed that nutritionists should be involved in testing food quality and nutritional value and determining appropriate menus. Failure to meet prescribed nutritional requirements could deprive patients of essential nutrients and prolong recovery, she said.
Shortage of nutritionists: The hospital currently does not have enough nutritionists to monitor food quality and nutritional content. Asaduzzaman said the hospital previously had one nutritionist, who was transferred to another facility, while a related case remains pending. He said steps have been taken to recruit more nutritionists.
Md Tajuddin Sikder, a professor at Jahangirnagar University’s Department of Public Health Informatics, said hospitals should follow World Health Organization guidelines when determining patients’ meals.“If food quality is below the prescribed guideline, it needs to be raised to a specific standard,” he told The Daily Industry.
Experts said simply increasing the food budget would not guarantee better meals. The quality of raw materials, cooking methods, serving practices, nutritional content and patient-specific diets must also be regularly monitored.
They recommended laboratory testing of hospital food to ensure that meals contain the prescribed amounts of protein and other essential nutrients.Responding to complaints from patients and relatives, Asaduzzaman said rising prices and related factors may have contributed to concerns over food quality. “Despite these challenges, we always sincerely try to ensure good-quality food from the contractor,” he said.
