Nutritious food must for those in quarantine: Experts

“Such an arrangement will not only help strengthen immunity of people staying in temporary medical centres but also boost local economy,” the paper stated.
Almonds are also a source of many nutrients such as vitamin E, dietary fibre, protein etc, and offer nutrition in every bite.
Almonds are also a source of many nutrients such as vitamin E, dietary fibre, protein etc, and offer nutrition in every bite.

BHUBANESWAR:  With vegetables and fruits not finding proper market linkage in rural areas due to lockdown restrictions, policy analysts are of the opinion that the nutritious food can be channelised to quarantine centres opened for returnee migrants. The latest policy brief on ‘migrant workers’ by Professors of IIT-Mumbai Om Damani and Jayendran Venkateswaran and Director of Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies, Bhubaneswar Srijit Mishra shared with Odisha Government and the Centre suggested that the quarantine centres should procure vegetables from local markets.

“Such an arrangement will not only help strengthen immunity of people staying in temporary medical centres but also boost local economy,” the paper stated. The suggestions assume significance as people in quarantine continue to throw tantrums over vegetarian food (only rice and dalma) and delay in supply at several quarantine centres in the State. Nutrition champion and recipient of Global Nutrition Leadership Award Basanta Kumar Kar said in quarantine centres, safe and nutritious diets are necessary to address protein hunger, calorie in adequacy, micro-nutrient deficiency. “Since people in quarantine are mostly locked up in a facility without physical exercise, they need diets with low sugar and fat,” he said.

As a large number of returnee migrant workers are expected to return, the analysts advised provisions for basic health check equipment and disease surveillance (including for non-Covid-19), relevance of sanitation and hygiene besides physical and mental activity at the quarantine centres. Apart from dietary requirement, the policy brief sought to address the physical and psychological needs of all in quarantine. Physical exercise, socialising while maintaining necessary distance, and some non-contact activities will help them remain engaged.

“Many migrant workers are not used to agricultural work and if they need to get back to agricultural work, because they cannot migrate back and without their non-agricultural income the input-intensive agriculture may not be financially feasible, the quarantine period may be used to make them physically fit for agricultural work,” the analysts said.

Suggesting that the returnee migrant workers staying in publicly provided quarantine centres should be made to involve themselves in cooking, cleaning, maintaining sanitation and taking up disinfecting activities where required with limited outside intervention, the paper stated, such an arrangement will also keep them physically and mentally occupied. While the State Government has so far set up 9,536 temporary medical centres in 6,798 panchayats where 3,30,772 beds have been readied to provide Covid-19 health services in rural areas, more than 20,000 people have returned so far.

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