The Ministry of Health as part of its reforms will soon upgrade meals at major hospitals around the country.
Minister for Health Dr Neil Sharma said this is in with Government’s reform programmes as outlined in the Roadmap emphasised by Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama.
Dr Sharma said hospital meals need to be reviewed and saying that the Health Ministry wants to upgrade and offer better quality meals to its patients.
“This is very important for the Ministry and the change we believe is for the better,” Dr Sharma said.
“Hospitals need to review their meal management and administration so that patients are eating better quality food and that resources are well utilized and managed,” Dr Sharma said.
Parts of the proposed changes in meals are:
A two-day vegetarian meals per week to be looked at. Since Tuesdays and Fridays are normal vegetarian days for some members of the community, it would be wise to align these days as official vegetarian days at the hospitals;
*Reduce salt purchase and consumption by 20% with the introduction of alternatives such as lemon slices, herbs and chillies;
*A 20% reduction in the use of sugar on all food items provided at hospitals;
*To serve lemon leaf or ‘draunimoli’ and ‘coboi’ as substitute for tea and cocoa;
*Proper food management to eliminate wastage, ensuring that younger children and women who are normally “light eaters” are served smaller portions rather than large amounts which goes to waste; and
* The availability of menus so that patients have a choice of food. There can two or three dishes per meal.
The Ministry also wants to ensure that cooking utensils and kitchen equipment are up to standard.
“We are asking our hospital management to work with their Board of Visitors in this area so that they are able to buy utensils and equipment to help in this area,” Dr Sharma added.