One might wonder that why launch the Government Hospital feeding initiative in the financial capital of the country when the problem in more severe in rural and tribal areas. Ironically, Mumbai is the worst as per global hunger index 2017 and this dichotomy of Mumbai is also responsible for high petty crime rate. And, all hell breaks loose when the only breadwinner in their family suffers from a chronic illness. No prizes for guessing that such populace across SEC D and E rush to Government hospitals. Affordability takes precedence over anything else in their choice of hospital. Making ends meet would be an uphill task with added burden towards daily commute, medicine and managing the expenses. Thousands with such constraints get admitted daily to Government Hospitals in Mumbai. The average in-patient stay is over 7 days. It is long enough to get the family on its knees. You can imagine the trauma that all family members would go through when attacked together with three strongest enemies in form of Poverty, Illness and Hunger.

Also, there is another important scientific reason to serve these in-patient attendants. Unlike private hospitals where you pay for the hospital staff to take care of a patient, it is the duty of the attendant to keep the patient clean in Govt. hospitals. They have to sometime clean the urine, vomit, blood, and saliva, most of the times with bare hand. They have to feed the patient, give a bath and also admit the medication as per the schedule to the patient. A hygienic, nutritious and stomach-full meals can give them the much needed immunity to fight such Hospital Acquired Infections (HAI). Akshaya Chaitanya serves such in-patient attendants hoping that a meal in the day would be one thing less for them to worry about. And, they sincerely believe that the financial capital of the country can provide for their food. They would start with serving 5,000 in-patient attendants daily in state run government hospitals starting April’21. As of now, they have MOUs in place with MEDD, Maharashtra Government for 4 hospitals.

Through this program the organization is contributing towards SDG 1, SDG 2 and SDG 3. For eradicating poverty they train and employ staff in their kitchen from local communities who they want to serve. They currently employ 83 such staff members for 4 kitchens in Telangana and plan to employ nearly 30 staff members for Byculla, Mumbai. To eradicate hunger; for majority of the family members attending to patients in public hospitals, this is the only comprehensive meal in the day with chai-biscuit being their breakfast and a snack like vada-pav being the dinner for the most. Family members are encouraged to eat as much they want to ensure that their immune system poses defense to unseen attack of any disease and they are able to devote themselves to take care of their loved one in the hospital. The nutritious meal served to patient's attendees undoubtedly has an impact on their health. It prevents them from catching a potential illness because of compromised immune system in a hospital with disease being all-around. Additionally, it saves family that much money to spend on the medicine for the patient’s recovery which contributes health and hygiene

• The program is built on Public-private partnership; MOU with MEDD, Maharashtra govt on one side and corporate/retail donors on other
• They have built capacity to feed 20K and could easily scale up to a lac to make a serious difference and achieve the hunger-free status for the city
• The program supports the family at the most vulnerable time of their lives when either the bread-winner is bed-ridden or taking care of a family member admitted for a chronic illness. Imagine Poverty, Illness and Hunger coming together to break a family. This is the most vulnerable time for the family and any support goes a long way to ensure their return to life with dignity.