Woman finds cockroach in hospital canteen food

Nandini Subramanian, an employee at Amazon, who had visited the private hospital at Alwarpet on Friday for her annual check-up, was asked to grab a meal at the hospital’s staff canteen, before some regular tests. But to her shock and dismay she found a cockroach in the food served to her by the canteen. 

“I was given a box which contained two idlis, a vada and some pongal. Barely had I taken a bite of the idli served, that I noticed a dead cockroach floating in the sambar,” said the 29-year-old from Teynampet. “I complained to the caretaker of the canteen, who rudely denied and refused to own up responsibility, stating that the food had been brought from the canteen from another branch of the same hospital, where it was cooked and packed,” she added. 

Irked by the whole situation, she went to the front desk, where she was asked to fill in a feedback form, making sure to mention the incident, and demand a solution. “I waited for an apology from somebody. But got none,” she stressed. 

Failing to go back for her tests, she returned home and uploaded information about the incident on Facebook and tagged the hospital.

“It angered the public and finally, the administration manager got in touch with me and urged for a face to face meeting about the incident. I had gone for the follow up tests on Saturday morning and I agreed to meet the manager then,” she added.

Thereafter, a food manager, the administration manager and two others met Nandini to apologise and assured her that they would tighten the process of hygiene inspection and ensure such an incident is not repeated. 

“We have placed a complaint with the Food and Beverage Department and they promised it will not happen again. The management has also decided to take food from an alternative place,” said a manager of the hospital.