I. HISTORY OF THE DIETARY DEPARTMENT:
The Dietary Department started functioning on the 16th November 1999 as an out-patient clinic. On July 2010 hospital diet was provided for In-patients catered by a Private catering Organization. At this time food was prepared from a temporary placed provided in the campus as the main hospital kitchen was not yet ready. Preparation of food from the main Hospital Kitchen started on the 22nd February 2011. The present kitchen has ample space and is installed with modern equipments and appliances which have simplified the work. The department is presently catering to more than 350 patients per day.
II.        OBJECTIVES:

1. To maintain good nutritional status of all patients.
2. To educate patients about how diet plays a major role in the treatment of various diseases.
3. To modify the daily diet pattern of patients to meet their requirement during various diseased condition.
4. To correct deficiencies especially in patients with prolonged hospital stay like cancer patients and critical care unit patients.
5. Diet therapy in most instances is not a remedy in itself but is a measure which supplements or makes the medical or surgical treatment more effective.

III.       ACTIVITIES:
The Dietary Department perform two major activities that is

1. Nutritional care of patients
2. Food service management.

1. Nutritional care of Patients:

Nutritional care is provided through:

• Out-patient diet clinic: The assigned Dietician would first check the patients OPD card for diagnosis and diet advice, then only plan the diet and provide a Chart with detailed counseling on how to follow it. The OPD timing is from 11:30 am - 2:00 pm (Monday-Friday) in Room no. 901 next to physiotherapy room
• In-patient Nutritional Care: The assigned Dietician will conduct ward rounds on a daily basis to visit the individual patients in order to assess the nutritional status, to make changes according to the patients need and requirement and to give a brief orientation about our hospital diet. A careful Dietary history of each admitted patients is taken, diagnosis and biochemical parameters are being checked so as to modify the diet according to the diseased condition Diet Chart and counseling is also being provided at the time of discharged.
•  Food service management: Diet is compulsory for all In-patients. Hospital kitchen is being managed on a contractual basis. The meals are prepared and served as per daily instruction given by the Dieticians who maintain a strict check on the quality of food and the services provided.

Diet is compulsory for all In-patients. Hospital kitchen is being managed on a contractual basis. The meals are prepared and served as per daily instruction given by the Dieticians who maintain a strict check on the quality of food and the services provided

• Major Food Service Management Activities:

The major activities that take places in the kitchen are:

• Receiving of raw materials.
• Storage of raw materials in proper storage area like the walk in cooler for perishable goods and dry storage area for non-perishable goods.
• Production of food where various meals are prepared according to prescribed diet plan.
• Serving of food according to the portion prescribed in the diet plan with the help of standardize cups and serving the diet tray at the patient’s bed side.

Setting of Therapeutic Tray

Pre-Preparation

Cooking

Medical Check-up and health of Food handlers:

Periodic health check- up is conducted for all the personnel working in the kitchen from time to time

• Monitoring of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation is conducted on a daily basis.
• Routine cleaning is done on a daily basis to ensure cleanliness and hygiene of  all section which include the pre- preparation area, cooking area, washing area, dry storage area, vegetable storage area, blend section, juice counter, salad preparation ,food trolleys, floors and tiles, ventilators and garbage disposal.

The major role of the Dieticians in the food service area is:

• Compilation of the diet sheets received from all the wards twice a day. Planning of therapeutic diet with the help of a meal card which specifies the calories and protein requirement. The meal card also has a list of food items to be served during each meal. Meal card will be placed on each therapeutic tray at the time of food serving so as to guide the service person on the type of diet, portion size and foods to be given.
• Planning of Ryle’s Tube Feeds according to the required calories, protein and volume needed.
• Evaluation of prepared food before serving to the patient.
• Checking the therapeutic tray of patients during the serving time to ensure that patient received the meal as per the plan given in the meal card.
• Monitoring of cleanliness of the various areas within the kitchen.

The various types of diet being provided are:

• Regular Normal diet
• Soft diet
• Clear Liquid diet
• Full Liquid diet
• Ryle’s tube feeds
• Jejenostomy feeds
• Diabetic diet
• Renal Diet
• High Protein diet
• Salt free diet

IV. MAN POWER:

V. FUTURE PLANS:

1. The dietary department plans to conduct internship programmes for any interested qualified students in the field of Nutrition and Dietetics.
2. To organize CME programmes on a periodic basis.
3. To improved the hospital diet and to give a better nutritional care to all patient.
4. To organize nutritional awareness programmes in the Community.
5. To conduct orientation programmes on the latest food safety and personal hygiene protocols on a monthly basis for the kitchen staff.