Bhubaneswar: To cater to the needs of newborn babies who cannot be fed by mothers, a human breast milk bank (mother’s milk bank) has been set up at the Capital Hospital here.
It is the first such bank in the State and is among the 34 such banks across the country.
“It is one out of the 32 centres across the country and the first in the State. Any lactating mother can voluntarily donate her excess milk here which can be used to feed infants who are unable to get breast milk due to various reasons like illness or death of the mother, premature delivery, etc,” informed Dr LD Sahu, Director Capital Hospital.
Dr Sahu said that the milk can be stored for six months after sterilizing it using scientific processes.
“So now no infant will die for the shortage of mother’s milk or will suffer from malnutrition. That apart we can also supply it to other hospitals in the State if the need so arises there and provided we have sufficient stock,” explained Dr Sahu.
The human breast milk bank has been opened at the Pediatrics Department of the Capital Hospital.
Dr Alok Swain, a pediatrician at Capital Hospital informed that the milk bank has been opened two days back.
“Today is the third day since the opening of the milk bank and as of now, 13 mothers have voluntarily donated their milk at the bank. It can be stored for 3 months and after pasteurization, it can be stored for another 3 months. For 6 months in total,” said Dr Swain.
Explaining the modalities, Dr Swain said that first lactating mothers are counseled by nurses to donate their milk, then they are tested and their consent is obtained.
“After obtaining their consent, they are taken to the milk expression room where milk is expressed and after that, it is processed and then stored at minus 20 degrees temperature in a refrigerator,” Dr Swain added.
