India: Hospitals take up farming, yield used in kitchen
“In another five years, we aim to become self-sufficient and ensure that we use only vegetables cultivated in farms in the hospital kitchen for everyone.”
By Preetu Nair
TNN
Sep 7, 2023
Excerpt:
“KOCHI: Increasing number of city hospitals are now setting up organic vegetable gardens on their campus or terrace. The yield from here is used in the hospital kitchen.This is happening at a time when the government is increasingly emphasising on treating biodegradable waste at source.
The manure generated from the biodegradable waste is now being used in hospital gardens. Renai Medicity, a multispecialty hospital right in the middle of the city, has set up a large vegetable terrace garden. The plants are grown in over 1,000-odd cleaning chemical bottles that have been cleaned and converted into a garden pot.
They grow tomatoes, lady’s finger, brinjal, beans, spinach, green chillies and snake gourd in an organic way. Every day the hospital gets around 50kg of vegetables and all this is used in the hospital kitchen. If there is excess, then they supply it to the hotels.
“We wanted a green space in the heart of the city. This not only ensures that we get enough organic vegetables for the hospital kitchen but also has become a place for patients to take a walk and relax. Many have admitted to having a soothing effect on them after spending some time in the green environment,” said Renai Medicity MD Krishnadas Polakulath.
Meanwhile, Amrita Hospital that started organic gardening on the hospital land has now extended it to other locations in the district. “At the moment, the organic vegetables grown in our gardens are used for preparing food for in-patients and bystanders. In another five years, we aim to become self-sufficient and ensure that we use only vegetables cultivated in farms in the hospital kitchen for everyone,” said S Suresh Kumar, director, project development, Amrita, Kochi campus.“
