New Delhi: The resident doctors of the association of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have been experiencing several irregularities and unhygienic conditions in their hostel mess for the past 1.5 years. The resident doctors have said that the representatives of all the organizations (RDA, SYS, ASA) in the presence of the hostel warden, security officials & CFSO (From the FSSAI) undertook a surprise inspection of Mess no. 7 on August 10 and they have found several irregularities in the functioning of the mess.
An official from the resident doctors association has told Millennium Post that pests were found in food items. There was a live rat in the utensils cleaning area and a cigarette butt was found on the kitchen floor inside the mess kitchen. Also on 10 August, the irregularities were so severe that everyone present said that if the mess continued to function, it could cause major health havoc. Therefore, all the organisations (RDA, SYS, ASA), in the presence of the hostel warden, security officials & CFSO (From the FSSAI) officials, decided to shut down the mess after giving the manager and other staff adequate time to take away any raw materials or food items that may go to waste. However, the mess was opened within an hour of being shut down. According to the RDA, the irregularities have been there for more than one year and the mess vendors were given warnings repeatedly.
Renu Sejwal who is a food safety officer from the department of food safety of the Delhi government said: "We took the samples from each mess and it is quite evident that the mess is not working properly. It is in an unhygienic condition. The manager doesn't have a license to run the mess. We will give them notice and they will have to bring forth some changes to make the kitchen.
Millennium Post has tried to contact Sandeep Aggrawal who is the AIIMS hostel superintendent but he did not respond.