Mangaluru (Karnataka): The first-of-its-kind breastmilk bank of Lady Goschen Hospital of coastal Karnataka is winning accolades. The human milk bank, which was inaugurated 11 months ago, is now stable after initial hiccups and helping several infants to recuperate, who is undergoing treatment in Intensive Care Units.
Dr Balakrishna Rao NS, while highlighting the importance of the first-of-its-kind initiative said that the bank was set up in March 2022 and all mothers donate breast milk for the bank and the hospital partially gives back the milk and stores the remaining. The milk is then sent for clinical as well as laboratory testing and mainly tests like HIV, HBSAG, HPC and VDRL are carried out before the milk is kept in the bank for further testing.
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The bank takes consent of the other men donating the milk and then send the milk samsendsto the District Health Laboratory for certification and then the milk is fed to premature and underweight babies. In all, 30 infants are being admitted to the hospital daily and the mothers of the infants donate milk for the betterment of all the infants in the hospital.
Rao further said that in the initial months of the bank, the bank face problems collecting the milk, but as the hospital provided counselling to the mothers, the number of donors increased. Rao claimed that after a few months, the hospital did not need a councillor and the donors started spreading the word. The donors used to highlight the importance of human mibanksank to the newly admitted mothers and eventually the hospital has no scarcity of milk. The initiative has reduced the infant mortality rate and helped the speedy recovery of newborns.
