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New Delhi: The health ministry has directed all central government-run hospitals and medical institutes to stop selling unhealthy high-fat foods in their canteens, and instead promote fresh food.
In a letter, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Atul Goel also asked all hospitals to ensure that their premises are tobacco and alcohol free.
There are 22 Centre-run hospitals across the country, with seven based in the national capital.
The letter said canteens should replace “unhealthy high fat diet beverages with high sugar content, packaged processed food (with high content of salt, sugar and preservatives), fast food etc with diets rich in fresh fruit and vegetables, healthy juices, nuts, millets, whole grains etc”.
The 1 January letter to principals and deans said non-communicable diseases account for 63% of all deaths in the country, with cardiovascular diseases leading with 27% followed by chronic respiratory diseases (11%), cancers (9%), diabetes (3 %) and others (13%). He said NCDs are driven by four risk factors: tobacco use, physical inactivity, harmful use of alcohol and unhealthy diets.
“Tobacco and alcohol use are linked to many diseases such as liver cirrhosis, several cancers (oropharyngeal, liver, laryngeal, esophageal cancer etc) and haemmorrhagic strokes. Unhealthy diets, fast food (such as burgers, pizzas etc), sugary beverages contribute enormously to the ever increasing NCD burden,” it said.
The ministry has been working on promoting healthy food habits for quite some time now.
Last year, the ministry announced the year of millets, introduced millet thaalis and banned fried food in its canteens.
AIIMS Delhi had last year issued an order to modify the food items available in its canteens to improve the immunity of healthcare professionals as well as patients.
However, many of the centre-run hospitals are found serving processed foods and sugary beverages in the canteens.
An email to the health ministry seeking its response on the letter went unanswered at press time.
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Published: 07 Jan 2024, 09:47 PM IST
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