Breakfast being served for the first time at the SCB Medical College and Hospital as part of the new menu introduced on Friday. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, April 1: Breakfast was served for the first time to patients at the S.C.B. Medical College and Hospital here as part of the new menu introduced with an increased diet budget of Rs 50 from today.

The breakfast, consisting of upma and vegetable curry, was, however, served to only those who had opted for cooked meals.

“Cooked meals — lunch, dinner and now breakfast — gives a more wholesome feeling,” said Urmila Behera (36), attending to her husband Bijay Behera (40).

However, one Shailabala Nanda attending to her 78-year-old father Bhikari Charan Nanda is of a different view.

“We prefer dry food as it consists of bread, boiled egg, milk, biscuit and fruits. Moreover, in that case, we won’t have to use utensils,” said Shailabala.

“The new menu has been carefully planned to meet the patients’ nutritional requirements,” hospital superintendent D.N. Maharana told The Telegraph.

Mars Developers Suppliers, a private firm, has been entrusted with the job of buying, cooking and serving the food by using the hospital kitchen. The hospital administration will pay for the food.

Sources said the new menu had been prepared under the guidance of Prof A.K. Baliarsinha, head of the endocrinology department.

“Patients who prefer dry food will be provided everyday with 400gm of bread, half litre of packed Omfed brand milk, two boiled eggs, 180gm of biscuits and fruits to meet the required per day intake of 2,000-2,200 calories,” hospital dietician Suryabhanu Maharathi told The Telegraph.

“For patients opting for cooked meals 300 calories would be ensured by serving poorie, upma, chapati, bread or suji halwa and vegetable curry, 1,100 calories in lunch and 1,000 calories in dinner,” he said.

“Lunch and dinner will include fish (100gm) or egg (once a day) on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday and chicken on Sunday along with rice, dal and vegetable. For the tuberculosis patients, fish or egg will be served in both meals a day and chicken on Sundays,” the dietician said.

However, the patients tend to opt for dry food. “From the 46 indoor wards in different departments, we had received indents for 1,421 patients today. Of them, 208 were for cooked meals, while the rest were for dry food,” said Rabi Routray, proprietor of Mars Developers and Suppliers.

“May be it was because most patient attendants were not aware of the new cooked meal menu that had included breakfast, fish and chicken,” said Binapani Panda, nurse-in-charge at the plastic surgery department where only four of the 30 patients had opted for cooked meals.