For over two months now , hundreds of doctors in several hospitals of the city who are on Covid duty are handed a nutritious and hearty meal twice a day by a Bengaluru-based volunteer group.

The group, Doctor’s Kitchen, which took birth during interactions with heads of Covid-19 government hospitals, realized that a decent meal was a luxury for doctors given logistic , time and resource crunch.
The project started on June 22, with 150 meals and presently the group has been serving 560 meals (lunch and dinner) a day and has clocked 35,000 meals thus far. In the next 60 days, they plan to serve 40,000 meals to doctors in the city.

The initiative was started by volunteers from United Sikhs and other NGOs, and it’s now going strong with several groups, NGOs and individuals chipping in. Vijay Grover, part of Corona Warriors (a citizen volunteer group) says that soon after the pandemic broke out, a lot of kitchen staff in several hospitals quit and the doctors weren’t getting food on time. “We started a kitchen to provide lunch and dinner to doctors at Victoria Hospital, Sir CV Raman General Hospital and KC General Hospital, among others,” Vijay Grover said.

Several kind hearted citizens started joining the campaign and have been able to take the project ahead. Mohammed Ibrahim Akram , Director of Beijing Bites has been leading the lunch service from his restaaurant. Khursheed Irani, an entrepreneur and Viji Mam have supported the group by sending in 600 to 1,000 chapatis a day. The duo has been engaging a group of women to roll out the over 400+ chapatis everyday for over two months. ” Its the least that can be done for the Frontliners, who need a nutritious meal”says Khursheed Irani.

Constant need for funds and groceries has seen social activist Dr Shama Shareef who is the motivator and grocery mobiliser. ” I have managed to get support from Leher Sethi a philanthropist from Delhi apart from Pallabi Ghosh , Sai Ranjini and other Bengalurians who help me on a regular basis”

Angel Doss the backbone of ‘Help Bangalore’ a voluntary service group in Bengaluru has brought the requisite energy to the group. It was his intervention in the project which saw the project reach the level where it stands. Angel and her Help Bangalore Team has taken up the coordination of cooking and logistics. Angel says , “There are plans to extend the scheme to other healthcare workers. We have been focussing on how we can keep the service going on till such time that the Covid Crisis continues”

Several social organizations llike Agrawal Samaj , Rotary International Dist 3190 and Sai Krishna Trust have lent a helping hand to the project. “Some sponsored groceries , some gave financial support and some just volunteer support. But every helping hand counts. We are only trying to channelize the rsources for optimal utilization”says Sudhanshu Garg , of IITiansIndia

Those keen to support may contact Vikram Shetty 9886333795