Rawalpindi eateries to post staff’s health certificates

RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board has directed all food outlets offering food and beverages to prominently display health certificates of their workers.

According to a recently issued notification, all bakeries and confectioneries, fast-food outlets, restaurants, hotels and grocery stores should display health certificates of the shopkeepers, managers and workers.

The staff of the food outlets and grocers will be screened for HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, and tuberculosis and only certificates issued by the Cantonment General Hospital will be acceptable, officials said.

If the requisite certificates were not displayed at a place visible to the public, the cantonment board will levy fine on the shop, they said.

The document, dully attested by the resident medical officer of the cantonment hospital, will certify that the staff members of that particular shop are free from HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, and tuberculosis and have been vaccinated against preventable diseases.

The notification has left the owners of food outlets perplexed, people running fast-food kiosks in the cantonment area said.

While screening people handling food and beverages against communicable diseases was commendable, it could be challenged in the court as there were doubts whether, cooks and waiters can transfer HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, and tuberculosis, a shopkeeper said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2016.