Home / April 25- May 01, 2026 / Eating is Fun / Eating is Yuck! - A variety food column / Life & Living / GOING FOR A HEALTH CHECK UP AT MANIPAL HOSPITAL!
GOING FOR A HEALTH CHECK UP AT MANIPAL HOSPITAL!
No Comments on GOING FOR A HEALTH CHECK UP AT MANIPAL HOSPITAL!

GOING FOR A HEALTH CHECK UP AT MANIPAL HOSPITAL!

April 25- May 01, 2026, Eating is Fun / Eating is Yuck! - A variety food column, Life & Living April 24, 2026 , by

GOING for a health check-up always fills my heart with foreboding for invariably some doctor will scold me, “If you did your bypass in 2011 why aren’t you still taking your statin at least, or ecosprin!” I usually quip, if I’d continued taking these I would long since gone with the wind! It baffles my Allopathy doctor friends as they try to talk me out of this emotional thing, like “I don’t like the virulent scarlet color of Ecosprin, I’m allergic to it…and statin, somewhere along the way I dropped it because not only does it eat into my financial budget, I read so many nasty things about it…” You know how we media folk are!
So since my eating and drinking efforts are not so disciplined off and on – I’m usually told I’m overweight, got varicose veins at my feet checked, don’t eat leftovers in and out of the fridge and stay away from heavy doses of carbohydrates we vegetarian Indians tend to eat and overeat on morning, noon and night. It’s bread or rice and other refined oily carbs…where all the obesity begins.
In Goa in particular the bread man or poder’s boy comes around on a bicycle every morning and evening retailing the local bakery’s bread loaves called pau, poie, undo, etc…most Goans love to eat these refined white soft breads with curries of no particular distinction. Goa has an an exotic number of tantalizing much-loved masala mixes wet and dry, and fryums in plenty — see them at all the Goan eateries down town Panaji. Don’t forget Goa is also such an alcoholic state! Alcohol qualifies as refined carb, okay, a dangerous one.
Sigh. Over and over again I see how as a people we are just not conscious of what we put in our mouth by way of food; it’s this or we don’t care if we end up with diabetes courtesy an overworked pancreas…later on amputated toes, legs, etc. The wealthy state of Goa leads in diabetes statistics because it is hung up on heavy duty carbohydrate foods (also the fibreless refined industrial junk foods of dubious flours and fats); Goa is also up there in the confectionary and patisserie shops in plenty and none of them are health-consciousness to offer daily salads or soups. Sweets Western or Indian are eaten daily for any occasion or no occasion.
My friends, it is an overwhelming whopping dose of refined carbs eating which has a bearing on the status of our general health; even if we’re living longer but so happily into our 70s, 80s, plus, plus with the inflammatory/degenerating conditions of diabetes, cardiovascular conditions, breast, colon and oral cancers, some more.
THAT is why when I go to a hospital and I always see how indifferent or callous the management is when it comes to their in house canteen or cafeteria food – damn it, at least hospital canteen/cafeterias should be conscious about NOT permitting these piled high junk food snacks like hydrogenated fatty puff pastries, confectionaries, sugary bottled soft drinks and wretched ice-creams? Of course, pau, pau, pau! It’s some kind of a diabolical covert wish to ensure future patients keep coming to hospital to keep its coffers ringing forever until death do us part. Preventive healthcare can and must begin in hospitals public and private, surely? Okay, no more of this.
THIS last week at the Manipal Hospital at Kadamba plateau out at Dona Paula, Panjim, I’d gone in for a much-needed check-up. And I thought anew how much I love the atrium sky-lit cafeteria here at Manipal Hospital. Reckon it’s the best in Panjim (although the new block GMC hospital cafeteria is lovely place too to meet up with someone on visiting a patient) – Sodexo has gone and instead it’s Indya who’re doing the contracted out catering for running of the hospital cafeteria and patients’ meals.

Manipal Hospital has a lovely naturally lit by a skylight atrium-styled cafeteria…but along with more enlightened patients’ meals there is also piles of abominable junk food fit only for the dustbin. Savory pattice, sweet puff pastries, potato wafers and fingers and pau do not qualify as food by any stretch of imagination, nor do colored bottled aerated drinks. Surely wellbeing must begin with what we put in our mouth in and out of our homes? Surely at least hospital cafeterias public/private can be more enlightened in this respect?


 Truth is at one of the Manipal Hospital press conferences their publicity guy Jasmen Fernandes gave out these attractive complimentary cards to media persons and I just decided to call on it. What do you know, I was treated to a more or less a happy hospital picnic out for almost half-a-day! The girl who’d confirmed the appointment over the phone had forgotten to remind me to get urine and stool sample; but that was alright as long as I was in fasting mode …urine test is just to confirm infection, stool test to check for blood leakage, indicating cancer or piles or terrible constipation, you’ll be surprised how big a troublemaker constipation is! Diet and medications constipate and keep you in the toilet longer than need be.
There was a very efficient nurse at the blood collection room who told me to fist my hands while she removed 10 ml blood from my inner elbow spots – 2ml per vial, 5 vials, and later on after a two hour breakfast or post-prandial break another 2ml blood would be drawn to rule out blood sugar. Mostly primary beginner’s blood tests. Blood is such a mirror to the organic state of body beautiful and how much blood analysis can tell you how close you are to meeting Lord Yama, something like that. Usually, the blood drawn is venous blood for all blood tests begin with a complete blood count…there’re all kinds of fascinating blood tests.
Most of us don’t know half the truth about what blood quality can tell us (remember how in the scandalous Jeffrey Afstein child scandals breaking out in US of A, a whole slew of wealthy types were engaged in drinking “fountain of youth” fresh blood cocktails at their nauseous feasting wild parties, not amusing at all, deadly stuff).
HEY, a pleasant Shweta and Larissa at the comfy Wellness Center handed me a breakfast coupon after the blood collection, said go have breakfast and come back. At the atrium cafeteria I was surprised for patients got a choice breakfast: Upma or poha? I chose poha, then cornflakes portion with cup milk, coffee, a bowl of fresh cut melon which one eats first of course, fruit always first. The poha was generous with its peanut count, non-greasy, non-spicy, most agreeable.
Only patients who have come in on one of the Manipal Hospital wellness packages are entitled to this breakfast – others from the general patients in-house or out-house and relatives may feast on the puff pastries, white bread chutney-cheese sandwiches, sweet pastries, cookies, biscuits, etc. Lunch time though sees a fairly decent thali meal combo with wheat chappaties and rice…sorry, no my dear, “we don’t give jowari or nachne chappati and what…what’s ukde rice? We have only white cooked rice of the jeera or masuri variety…” On a previous outing here I’d eaten the thali meals, can be utterly lackluster.
But on day of check-up I enjoyed my patient’s breakfast of poha and returned tray to wash point; wandered around a bit till it was time to do x-ray, ECG, meet the doctor who briefed me about my results when my results came. I got the results the same day because I was on a complimentary coupon, others who take the women’s or men’s wellness package check-ups get their results after four days when they also meet the consultant doctor for further advice on their health status.
In the doctor’s room it’s the usual stuff: show tongue, breath in, breath out, stethoscope check up and so on, the doctor listened to my list of woes and smiled, most women have common stories to recount. She tells me to make an appointment to see the consultant for a ear check-up, see another doctor if my arthritic knees are hurting me to much…and re-evaluate my eating habits, be more disciplined. It is never too late to take care of oneself! Chances are my vascular system is turning to concrete faster – I should do something about my high cholesterol, LDL is bad. Otherwise, I’m fine. Thank-you, Dr Mithila Nadkarni (Preventive & Social Medicine), you’re so kind, patient and human!
It’s was all over before lunchtime but I did drop in at the Atrium to pick up a bottle of Bailey’s water before leaving. There were a few doctors at the cafeteria, there’s a separate section for them to eat their meals (either brought from home or courtesy cafeteria’s offerings)…recognizing a doctor I asked, why don’t you doctors ask for an improvement of fare available at the cafeteria? Don’t you have to eat too? Don’t you seek preventive healthcare too? The doc laughed, don’t joke, please. Most doctors are consultants at a posh, fully-air-conditioned hospitals like the Manipal Hospital and patients have to make an appointment. Doctors have differing consultation charges added on to the hospital charges.

Manipal Hospital Check-up Packages… They have several of these Wellness Packages for teens, for men and women from 19 to 40, 41 to 60, for those in their “super 60s” to 80….a Husain at the counter gave me a pretty booklet listing all the package details priced Rs1,400 plus, plus. It’s worth finding out what the slew of diagnostic tests tell us about the state of our health. In fact, there’s a lot of consciousness and for a Monday morning it was a packed scene, lots of women. All being guided into the routine and not so routine tests as they had opted for with a final consultation with a doctor for further understanding about what goes into the making of wellbeing. Perhaps if you’re feeling down and blue you might want to just go do one of these Manipal Hospital’s so called MahiCheck wellness packages!

BOTTOMLINE of this week’s eating adventures: Please, please remove the worst of the junk foods from private and public hospital cafeterias. Anyone listening? Begin with the crummy puff pastries for they’re so full of hydrogenated fats, top of the list indictment for heart conditions, no? Refined white flour, refined fat. Oh so much yuk, yuk, yuk. Knock, knock, knock, anyone cares enough to make a difference for long-term solutions for better health for all?
We know health has to begin with food. It’s primary. We eat well over three generations, we inherit good genes. We don’t, you inherit bad genes. Quoting something I was reading vis-à-vis cancer recently:
“A combination of faulty genetics and bad luck – that’s what Western medicine has been telling us is the cause of cancer. But this is far from the truth. Genetics and epigenetics are influenced to a great extent by dietary factors – both positively and negatively. Genetic damage occurs all the time from exposure to toxins, radiation, pesticides, aging, stress, and more, but foods such as eggs, duck liver, organic red bell peppers, spinach, endive, asparagus, mustard greens, turnip greens…can help to protect and repair genes from that damage. The good news is that you can change the destiny of your genetic health simply by putting different food in your shopping cart. It’s that easy, and it doesn’t hurt. It might just taste a little different than what you are used to.” (courtesy “Nutrigenomics, Genetics & Epigenetics”, a article by Nasha Winters & Jess Higgins Kelley in www.wellbeingjournal.com). It just means our genes change over time in response our environment and this has always been the case and is the case today too when we are more carcinogenic than ever before!

Related posts:

  1. IN SEARCH OF ALKALINE LIFESTYLE!
  2. THERE’S A ZEROPOSRO IN PANAJI!
  3. CELEBRATING `WORLD IDLI DAY’… On March 30!
  4. MAKE THE MOST OF `KACHI KAIREE’ SEASON!

Search

Back to Top