No plan to exclude proteins from diet
Says ICDDR,B director
The ICDDR,B authorities yesterday expressed concern over some recent media reports that the hospital has decided to exclude proteins from patients' diet in a bid to contain costs.
At a press conference, ICDDR,B medical director Dr Mark Pietroni said the hospital never had any intention to exclude proteins from patients' diet. It was a flawed memorandum of the hospital that sent a wrong message in this regard, he said.
Different newspapers and TV channels, based on a memo the ICDDR,B issued on September 6, reported on occasions that the hospital has decided to exclude fish, mutton, chicken, and egg from diets unless a patient is prescribed therapeutic diet.
"It was a mistake. The memo was vaguely written. But our intention was not corrupt", Dr Pietroni said. "We are fed up with the reports published in media", he added.
Referred to the memo, Dr Pietroni said only 1-2 percent of the current 350 patients were not given proteins like fish and meat for 10-15 days following the memo. He said at present all the patients are receiving regular proteins in their diets.
The ICDDR,B, popularly known as cholera hospital, spends about $6 million for giving free treatment to an average 1.20 lakh to 1.30 lakh people every year.
According to Dr Pietroni, two of the donors, Dutch and Swiss, stepped back from funding the hospital last year while global inflation caused a loss of $2 million to the hospital in 2009, forcing it to think about containing costs.
Asked what else the ICDDR'B authorities have done to cut costs, he said the doctors have been instructed to prescribe less expensive tests, less medication and cut transport expenditure and energy consumption.
Communications head of the hospital Graham Judd, senior nutritionist Dr Iqbal, and chief physician Dr Pradip K Bardhan were also present during the press conference.
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