Good response to vet’s free meals to home-quarantined

VELLORE: An initiative by a government veterinary doctor to provide food for COVID-19 patients in home quarantine has evoked good response and most of the beneficiaries in Vellore volunteered to pay for the meals, sources said.

Dr Ravi Sankar to cater to those isolated at homes purchased 100 tiffin carriers for Rs 45,000 to ensure individual use of the carriers. He deployed the staff in his veterinary clinic to act as volunteers to provide meals and tiffin last week.

“We provided breakfast, lunch and dinner to about 15 people on day 1. But, once I uploaded food availability on social media, I was getting calls from around 30 persons on day 2. As the volunteers have to arrive around 6 am to deliver breakfast and as they were unable to attend to their personal work, it was decided to provide only lunch and dinner,” he said.

Asked about the response, he added, “many are happy with our services and have openly expressed willingness to pay for the food, but we have said they can do so after about a month when the situation improves.”

He provides a simple lunch of rice, rasam, sambar and proiyal while for dinner it is usually pongal or idlis. Each beneficiary has been allocated two tiffin carriers so that the same carriers go to same house.

When asked about the expenses incurred for the service, he told DT Next, “I have not calculated it yet though many volunteered to provide assistance in both cash and kind.”