Hyderabad: The very boring, tasteless food diet food at hospitals for patients has now been replaced by something very tasty. The hospitals which had never served non-vegetarian food are enforced to do so in order to balance the protein intakes for the ill.
Some of the hospitals, if not all, are offering fish and chicken curries while almost all of them have included boiled eggs as a part of their menu. Due to the emphasis on protein-rich diet, hospitals had to give in to the demands and tastes of patients and hence the decision to offer non-veg dishes. As an alternative, some hospitals are offering paneer dishes.
They are now offering a special, protein-rich diet with a variety of recipes, snacks, soups, fruits and fruit juices to COVID-19 patients admitted in their hospitals.
Due to the intake of various kinds of anti-viral drugs and steroids during corona treatment, patients are experiencing an increased appetite and hence they are being offered rich nutritious food during breakfast, lunch, evening snacks and dinner.
Due to the special diet being served now corporate hospitals are charging anywhere between Rs 550 to Rs 1,200 per day as food charges. Patients per day costs are going up to Rs one lakh per day which is why they are not holding back when it comes to filling their hunger pangs. Some patients are seeking the one-on-one meetings with dietitians so as to ask them to include some of their taste choices on the menu.
A city based Nutritionist Safa Khanam said, “Offering high protein, normal diet and high protein soft diet to the COVID patients is as important as providing them with medicine but the quantity may vary from person to person. The diet composition per day in food given to patients is around 2,000 to 2,600 calories and 60 to 80 gms of protein.”
However, the role of dietitian and nutritionist has become very important in COVID treatment as nutritious food decides the recovery of patient and in restoring immunity levels in the body.