NEW DELHI: Civil society, government and corporate social initiatives bunched together has helped hundreds of poor patients at India’s south eastern state of Andhra Pradesh to avail of free food.

Piping hot lunch will be served to patient and attendants at the Niloufer Hospital, daily, thanks to a joint program launched by the Hare Krishna movement, Megha Engineering and Infrastructure limited and the Andhra Pradesh government.

The program christened ‘Bhojanamrita’ will also be introduced in two other general government run hospitals of Andhra Pradesh very soon.

Over a 1000 new patients get admitted every third day at the popular Niloufer hospital located in the state’s capital of Hyderabad.

Financial support for the program will come from Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd, while a state-of-the-art kitchen which global Hare Krishna Movement volunteers manage will organize the actual cooking of the food.

Hare Krishna Movement was already using the kitchen to prepare meals daily for 40,000 school children under a Federal government sponsored program called Mid-day Meal Scheme.

According to Satya Gaura Chandra Dasa, who heads the NGO, they are also providing food at the Indo American Cancer Hospital at Basavtarakam, Andhra Pradesh.