The Pioneer

One rarely finds a person who isn’t averse to hospital food but on Monday India’s injured goalkeeper Baljit Singh Dhadwal got a reason of his own when he was shocked to find a cockroach in his food, at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Baljit, who leaves for the United States for further treatment on his injured eye, said that he had even complained to the staff at AIIMS but sadly got a very lukewarm reply in return. “This incident happened today during lunch. I found a cockroach in my paneer sabzi and immediately complained to the waiter, but he told me to speak to the canteen head about the problem,” Baljit told The Pioneer on Monday.

“When we complained to the canteen contractor about the incident he told us that we have to speak with the AIIMS dietician about this and that he wasn’t responsible for this mishap,” Baljit added.

Later Baljit found out that the AIIMS dietician was on leave that day and her assistant was on a half-day, which meant that no one was present to take his complaint. Frustrated and tired Baljit then called the dietician, who said that she had problems of her.

“When I told her about the incident she was a bit rude and instead of taking my compliant she was making me feel guilty about calling her during her leave,” said Baljit.

Baljit said that he did not file a written complaint because he had no clue as to who was the in charge of his food and diet.

“No one in the AIIMS authority advised me to file a complaint and frankly I was so disgusted and tired that I didn’t feel like filing one. Eventually we ordered food from outside the hospital,” he said.

“I am leaving for America in a day or two and I can’t bother myself with such incidents but it is sad that if a guy like me, who is getting VIP treatment, is facing such problems then what will happen to normal patients,” he said.

Pioneer attempted to contact AIIMS authorities but none were available for any official comments.

Baljit also complained that he had to face many other problems, at AIIMS, as well.

“This morning I was told to get some tests done on my eye at 10 am but when I reached the examination room they said that I had to wait for an hour before my turn came. Then they called me for another test later but again when I reached the room I was informed that the machine was not working and that I was to take the test later,” he said.