Chennai: The corporation canteen at Rajiv Gandhi Gove­r­nment General Hospital (RGGGH) at Central, which is under construction, will be the biggest of its kind in the city and will be designed in a patient-friendly manner.

Other than providing food, which goes easy on the pocket, the canteen will have ramps for differently abled and possibly have separate counters for them. GH sources say, “The corporation canteen is built on a 5,000 sq ft land and will be the biggest to accommodate the 12,000 outpatients, 3,000 inpatients and thousands of staff and visitors at the hospital. The canteen is expected to open by mid-September.”

“The canteen would be helpful in keeping away rats from the hospital as people will opt for the low-cost corporation canteen at the hospital and will not bring their food from home. Thus the patients will not waste food on the premises and keep the hospital clean,” a senior doctor at RG­GGH said.

The Chennai corp­oration has also floated tenders to build the corporation canteen at Kast­h­urba hospital in Tripl­icane.

“It will be a good move from the corporation if disabled friendly facilities and separate counters are introduced in all the corporation-run canteens in the city,” said Ramachandran, an IT employee.

“Cooking becomes a tough task for me as I had to take care of my husband who is admitted in the hospital. Till now, I managed with it but once the canteen is open I would be able to get food at affordable price here at the hospital,” said the rel­a­tive of a patient adm­itted at the RGGGH.