Doha                                                                                                                                                                                                      24 Dec 2017

Recently inaugurated three new hospitals in Medical City, Doha by Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad AlThani have in-house state of the art  kitchen and catering facilities for in-house patients.  Catering Department of Hamad Medical Corporation hospitals enjoys a high regards from patients and their visitors because of  the food high standards, variety of food items, serving portions and quality of service.

Reem Al Saadi, Director of Dietetics and Nutrition Department, Hamad Medical Corporation told to visiting members of media about the food facilities that ‘new premises are considered to be equipped with the biggest healthcare kitchen in the region with the capacity to provide patients with up to 4,000 healthy and nutritious meals every day. She said that ‘A kitchen this size is a very complex operation and we cater to more than 65 different diets at any given time. This includes patients with swallowing issues and those with specific macro or micronutrient requirements. We know that nutritious meals play a role in the healing and recovery process and while patients are in hospital, diet is a priority and can govern how quickly a patient recovers. Every meal has to go through a strict process and is planned with dietitians according to the individual needs of the patient.”

She said Menus are balanced to ensure that there is variety and that a day’s complete menu over breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks delivers the nutrition and calories needed to meet the health requirements of patients. Much planning goes into each dish, which is tested several times and assessed by dietitians before being added to the menu. The most popular dish among patients is chicken biriyani with raita salad, she told.

Miss AlSaadi said ‘Meals in the kitchen of the new Medical City Hospitals are planned and prepared by an extensive team of more than 300 staff, including dietitians, quality controllers, chefs, and stewards, each of whom is involved in different stages of the food preparation process. This process includes everything from the ordering and delivery of the raw ingredients to the preparation and serving of the meals, and finally the meticulous clearing and cleaning process.

The kitchen is in fact so large and complex that more than 150 staff are employed just to clean and ensure hygiene standards are met. The dedicated loading dock and temperature-controlled storage facilities see dozens of deliveries of fresh food and produce each day.

Commenting on the design and scale of the kitchen, Ms. Al Saadi added: “The kitchen was designed with maximum efficiency and to best meet the nutritional needs of our patients. It has separate streams (sections) for chicken, fish, bakery, and dairy items, as well as for processing, receiving, thawing, and sending out meals. It is also equipped with 27 cold and freezer rooms to store food and is fitted with the most technically-advanced food-processing equipment, including machines that can peel and chop vegetables as well as cook bulk quantities of various foods.

The facilities are equipped with the most technically-advanced food-processing equipment, including machines that can peel and chop vegetables as well as cook bulk quantities of various foods. It enables the cleaning, washing and disinfecting of thousands of plates and pieces of cutlery, and has a master corridor that links the kitchen to the hospital facilities which is 800 meters long (two laps of an Olympic track).

According to her, the kitchen facility is specially designed with zero tolerance for any possibility of cross-contamination of food during various stages of its preparation by the team of trained staff that numbers over 300 personnel consisting of dietitians, chefs, and stewards each of whom is involved in different stages of the food preparation process as well as 150 staff employed to clean and ensure that the hygiene standards are met.

“The menus are balanced to ensure that there is variety and that a day’s complete menu over breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks delivers the nutrition and calories needed to meet the health requirements of patients. Much planning goes into each dish, which is tested several times and assessed by dietitians before being added to the menu. The most popular dish among patients is chicken biryani with raita salad,” Saadi added.

Ferlyn Dias, Executive Chef, Catering Department at Hamad Medical Corporation explained on a question from a media member about kitchen operation, he said ‘ State-of-the-art kitchen is designed in such a way that has separate independent sections from assembly lines to handle different food items such as chicken, fish, bakery, and dairy items and also for processing, receiving, thawing, and sending out meals for delivery to the patients’.

Chef Dias told that ‘Once the food is ready to serve to the patients, it is transported to wards through special temperature controlled electro-calorific trolleys. These special trolleys are capable to maintain the temperature of different food items according to the required temperature for  1 1/2 hour to two hours during which it is served to the patients’.