Milk bank will be set up at SAT Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital and Thrissur Medical College Hospital, Health Minister Veena George has said.
The milk bank, opened at the Institute of Maternal and Child Health (IMCH) at Kozhikode an year ago, was a huge success and the facility had helped several infants. SAT hospital and IMCH Kozhikode were two hospitals in the State where the maximum number of deliveries took place and hence a milk bank at SAT would benefit many more infants, Ms. George said in a statement here.
The milk bank at IMCH had benefitted 1,813 infants in the past one year. A total of 1,397 mothers donated milk to the bank.
Though early initiation of breastfeeding is extremely important for the health of the newborn, many mothers are unable to do this because they may be in the intensive care unit after the delivery or they might be sick or the newborns might be in the neonatal ICU. The milk bank was set up to meet the breast milk requirements of these infants.
Milk is donated by mothers that then undergoes screening processes and is pasteurised before it is given to infants.
The Health department has also re-started the Mother and Baby-friendly hospital initiative to encourage breastfeeding and to promote quality maternal and child-care delivery.
