CHENNAI: With a view to provide quality food at nominal price to outpatients as well as attendants accompanying patients visiting state-run hospitals, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday inaugurated Amma Unavagams in four more government hospitals in the metro. With this, the total number of Amma Unavagams in Chennai has gone upto 207.
Serving the food items to two women, the Chief Minister also tasted the dishes at the new Amma Unavagam at Government Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for Women and Children at Triplicane to inspect the quality of the items served there. She also inaugurated these low-cost eateries at Government Hospitals at Royapettah, Kilpauk Medical College Hospital and RSRM Maternity Hospital at Royapuram through video conferencing.
Already, accepting the requests from the public that Amma Unavagams should be opened in government general hospitals where large number of people hailing from economically weakers sections visit everyday, the Chief Minister had opened this canteen at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital on November 20, 2013 and Government Medical College Hospital at Stanley and at Institute of Child Health and Hospital at Egmore on February 21.
Following the overwhelming response to the Amma Unavagam concept in Tamil Nadu, a delegation from Egypt visited the low-cost eatery at the GH recently to study this successful initiative. Similarly, State government representatives from Gujarat, Delhi, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and many other places have visited these canteens and hailed the way it is being implemented by the Tamil Nadu government.
The Egyptian delegation had studied the logistics involved. Representatives of civic bodies from Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Chandigarh have expressed the desire to implement the scheme in those cities. At Amma Unavagams, idli with sambar (`1 per piece) and pongal with sambar (`5 per plate) is served between 7 am and 10 am, between 12 noon and 3 pm, sambar rice, curry leaves rice and lemon rice, (each at `5 per plate) and curd rice (`3 per plate) is being provided. Starting from 6 pm to 9 pm, two chappatis with dal is given for `3.