Mangaluru : Those who accompany patients at the Government Wenlock Hospital will no longer go hungry, as a charitable trust will now provide them food. The catering facility at the hospital is open only for the patients.

Snehalaya Charitable Trust will provide the attendants rice and sambar around noon.

“We will provide food to as many as 700 persons a day,” said Joseph Crasta, Managing Trustee of the Trust, which has been providing food to 120 attendants in Government Hospital in Kasaragod since December last year.

Mr. Crasta, formerly a private bus driver, said the attendants’ problems led them to take up the initiative. “The trust’s rehabilitation centre (in Kasaragod) has been looking after destitute mentally challenged persons since 2009,” he said.

The trust has been collecting funds to meet the expenses.

“The cost per plate has been worked out at Rs. 10. Rs. 7,000 meets the requirement of 700 attendants,” he said. Those celebrating their birthdays, marriage anniversaries or events can donate this sum to the trust, he said.

Two vehicles will bring the food from Snehalaya’s Centre in Kasaragod to the Wenlock Hospital every day.

The Wenlock Hospital has built a shelter for attendants where they can have the meals. Rajeshwari Devi H.R., Medical Superintendent of Wenlock Hospital, which gets patients from districts like Shivamogga, Bagalkote, Chikkamagaluru and from Kasaragod, said. “It did hurt us saying no to attendants while we were providing food to patients. With this noble service, we are now relieved.” Health and Family Welfare Minister U.T. Khader, who inaugurated the service on Friday, called upon other social organisations to take up similar initiatives in other government hospitals.

The Government Wenlock Hospital is short of funds. Since moving from the Department of Medical Education to the Department of Health and Family Welfare the grant has come down from Rs. 4 crore to around Rs. 30 lakh.

In a meeting held a few days ago, Medical Superintendent H.R. Rajeshwari Devi told Minister U.T. Khader about the problems the hospital was facing due to want of funds. “Rs. 10 lakh provided for drugs is not at all sufficient. There was no budget for food, which comes to around Rs. 12 lakh per month,” she said.

Dr. Devi asked Mr Khader to allocate more funds for the hospital where the average bed occupancy per day has been at 700.