Hridayapoorvam, an initiative of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) for serving meals to patients and bystanders at the Government Medical College Hospital, Alappuzha, has completed 1,000 days.
A public meeting to mark the occasion was held on Sunday. It was inaugurated by Public Works Minister G. Sudhakaran.
The DYFI launched the scheme on June 3, 2017 to ensure no one goes hungry at the hospital. Their initial plan was to distribute food to 500 people daily. However, the response to the initiative was overwhelming.
DYFI district president James Samuel said that they had distributed more than four lakh food packets. “On an average, we distribute around 4,000 meals packets daily to inpatients, outpatients, and bystanders at the medical college hospital,” he said. The scheme has been made a success with the help of 149 regional committees of the DYFI. The DYFI is not collecting money from the public for the initiative. The responsibility of food distribution is divided among regional committees. On a given day, volunteers under a particular unit would go door-to-door and collect meals wrapped in plantain leaves and other eco-friendly packaging materials. The food thus collected was brought to the hospital in a vehicle and distributed among the needy every afternoon.
Saji Cherian, MLA, CPI (M) district secretary R. Nazar, Manu C. Pulickal, R. Rahul and others spoke.
