College Shows Door to Food Supplier

CHENNAI: Following test results that confirmed that the food served at the private canteen for doctors of Madras Medical College situated on the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital premises was of poor quality, the college authorities have cancelled the canteen contract, and have temporarily entrusted the operation of the facility with the State Public Works Department.

The move was triggered by an incident a month ago in which four post graduate doctors of the MMC suffered a bad bout of food poisoning after having lunch from this canteen. Following this, the college authorities filed a complaint with the Food Safety Department officials, who conducted inspection and collected samples that were found to be of poor quality.

“We had collected five varieties of samples from the canteen like sambar, curd and coconut chutney etc that were sent to the King Institute in Guindy for analysis. The results showed that the food was of substandard quality. After discussing the matter with our higher officials, we will initiate steps to sue the contractor,” an official from the Food Safety Department told City Express.

“After receiving the report from the Food Safety Department, we asked the PWD to call for fresh tenders, the work for which is progressing. The building now is under the control of PWD, who are overseeing the functioning,” medical college dean Dr R Vimala said.

According to a PWD official, this is not the first time a canteen contractor has faced action for operating the facility in unhygienic conditions. “There have been instances earlier, too. We had sealed the building twice earlier. But it was soon caught up in litigations, which made it impossible for us to do anything,” the official said.

He added that now that the contract was cancelled, fresh tenders would be invited to run the canteen.

“We also have plans to completely revamp the facility and upgrade it once formalities are complete,” the official added.