Dietetics is a specialized field dealing with clinical & therapeutic nutrition. In the world today, where majority of the population is afflicted with health related problems, Dieticians as trained professionals, influential in guiding and helping people to improve their lifestyle and performance.

Established in the year 2000, the Department of Dietetics now has Ms. Ritu Sudhakar as the Chief Dietician. Ms. Shaveta Batta, Ms. Bhavna Bhakoo and Ms. Pooja Sharma are the Dieticians. Two junior Dieticians assist them.

Dieticians work 7 days a week.

Timings: 7.00am- 6.00pm

Main activities that the department is engaged in are:

·         In patient food services

·         Out and in -patient diet counseling

·         Teaching

·         Supervision of hospital cafes and Hostel kitchens

All the private patients are on hospital diet .The facility of complimentary hospital diet is also available in selected general wards and shall soon be extended to all the remaining wards. There is 100 % coverage of the patients in the ICU Block. The Dietician on ICU Duty communicates with the Doctors & other members of the critical care team, plans the diet accordingly and monitors implementation of the nutrition care plan. Rounds to wards and private rooms are undertaken to have a closer contact with all the patients. Diet plans are also provided to the inpatients so that they can follow the plan once they are discharged.

Regular out patient clinic is held on all working days (including gazzeted holidays) between 10.00am- 2.00pm. The patients are counselled and given a diet plan after assessing their nutritional requirements according to their diseased condition. A lot of patients visit our OPD even on referral from practitioners outside DMC. They actively participate in health camps that are held in and outside DMC, with an aim to

create nutritional awareness among different sections of the society.

Ketogenic Diet clinic is held in collaboration withthe Department of Neurology that holds Epilepsy clinic on Mondays, wherein special diets are planned for children who suffer from intractable Epilepsy.

Ms.Ritu Sudhakar in the capacity of an external lecturer teaches Nutrition to students of B.Sc Nursing and the ones who undertake post basic course in Nursing.

The department is recognized by the Indian Dietetic Association for imparting 3months / 6 weeks compulsory dietetic internship to students who enroll themselves for post graduate Degree and diploma courses in Dietetics, offered by various universities, and have a regular inflow of students who come for the training from all over the region. Students who go in for distance learning programmes in Dietetics, offered by IGNOU come for practical training. They impart practical training in

‘catering management’ to the students who take ‘Nutrition’ as a major subject in graduation. MBBS students visit the department to get an insight into the fundamentals of ‘Hospital Dietary Services’. They also play a pivotal role in maintaining hygiene and in exercising ‘quality control’ in all the hospital cafeterias (9 in no., they cater to the students, staff and patient attendants) as well as hostel canteens and kitchens that cater to different categories of students- MBBS, Nursing & Post graduates.

A ‘patient kitchen’ is also being run under the strict supervision of our department where standardized recipes are made available to people at highly affordable rates. This kitchen caters to the areas where hospital diet is not being provided.

Dieticians have a ready access to Internet facility so that they can be constantly in touch with the current advances in the field of medicine and nutrition.

They are active members and co- initiators of the Dieticians’ forum where practicing dieticians from in and around Ludhiana meet often to exchange views on the latest trends in the field of Dietetics and Nutrition. We have been instrumental in arranging talks / seminars for the benefit of the dieticians.

Patient education lectures / exhibitions are arranged to mark ‘World Health Day’, ‘World Diabetes Day’ and other important occasions. Patients are also educated with the help of informative posters that are displayed in the OPD area.

Dieticians at DMCH regularly attend National / regional conferences, seminars & meetings associated with nutrition, critical care and patient management to be updated on the latest in the field of Dietetics. Ever willing and enthusiastic about disseminating knowledge on ‘Nutrition’, we wish to reach out to maximum number of people who need our support.