NEW DELHI: Poor hygiene and violation of food safety norms were allegedly found at a hostel mess of AIIMS during a recent surprise inspection, which was conducted by representatives of different doctors' organisations. The resident doctors' association of AIIMS has written to the director of the premier institute, seeking immediate action in this regard.
In its letter, the doctors' association claimed that many irregularities, including rotten vegetables, old paneer blocks, fungus growing inside deep freezers, ants inside freezer, live rat in utensil cleaning area, wheat flour stored openly in unhygienic bin and lizards in kitchen, were found during the inspection at the mess no. 7 on August 10. The inspection was conducted in the presence of the hostel warden, security officials and an FSSAI official, it stated.
"Earlier, around 2,000 students were going to this mess for food, but considering the unhygienic conditions, many of them have now stopped going there," claimed Dr Jaswant Jangra, the association president.
The doctors further alleged that these irregularities have been there since long. "On July 1, a meeting was held with the mess owners to correct all these irregularities within seven days. After July 7, we visited the mess again and found only minor improvements. Also, inflated prices were displayed on the menu board. A surprise inspection on July 29 found the same irregularities," the letter read.
Following the August 10 inspection, authorities had decided to give the mess manager adequate time to ensure food safety. However, the mess was opened just within an hour of being shut down, the association claimed.
