BHUBANESWAR: The Women and Child Development (WCD) department on Wednesday directed all the district collectors to ensure that no food from outside, either donated or procured, is served to children in child care institutions (CCIs).
Around 329 child care institutions in the state are registered with the Women and Child Development department. The CCIs are also known as orphanages or homes for children in conflict with the law. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) mandates that CCIs provide food and other essentials to children, and prohibit the introduction of outside food.
The regulation aims to ensure proper nutrition and hygiene, and prevent the possibility of children being given unsafe food items. However, at CCIs in the state, people usually donate food for the orphaned children during birthdays, festivals and other occasions.
In a letter to all district collectors, the WCD department stated that the NCPCR has in recent times, received several reports indicating instances where the health of children in CCIs have been adversely affected due to consumption of food donated by external and individual donors.
“The food items, although well-intentioned, are not subjected to adequate quality checks, hygiene verification or nutritional assessment. The absence of regulations poses a significant risk to children,” the letter stated.
Stressing on maintaining strict food safety and nutritional standards in CCIs, the department advised the collectors to issue directions to all such facilities under their jurisdiction to refrain from accepting or serving food to children from outside sources, unless it is verified and approved by the authorities concerned.
Issuing advisories to the CCIs, the department asked them to prepare food for the children within the campus, get the quality of food checked by authorities concerned at regular intervals and the district food inspection authorities should make regular visits to CCIs to check quality and hygiene of the food prepared.
Earlier this year, the department had decided that all CCIs will be mapped to the nearest health facilities such as district hospitals, CHCs, PHCs, urban primary health centres (UPHCs), or Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (AAMs). This mapping is aimed at ensuring easy and consistent access to healthcare services for all children in institutional care.