Kolkata hospital to open breast milk bank

KOLKATA: Kolkata's state-run SSKM hospital, one of the elite healthcare centres in West Bengal, is all set to have a breast milk bank - the first of its kind in eastern India and only the second in the country.

The breast milk bank will not only be used to feed babies whose mothers fall ill during the six-month lactating period after delivery but also come as a big relief to mothers who do not lactate.

It will also be a boon to the premature newborns, said Arun Singh, head of the neo-natology department. Neo-natology is a branch of paediatrics dealing with the medical care of the newborns, particularly those who are ill and require special care.

"Human milk is meant for humans and it is unparalleled. This breast milk bank will help several sick newborns, premature infants and those infants whose mothers cannot produce milk," Arun Singh, the man behind this innovative initiative, told IANS.

The first and only other breast milk bank in India was set up in Maharashtra. In contrast, the idea of a milk bank is quite popular in countries such as Britain, the US and Sweden.

The bank will take milk from mothers who have more milk left even after feeding their babies.

"We are going to start the milk bank within a few months. The extra milk which is left after feeding milk to the newborns will be stored with the full consent of the mothers," said Debashis Bhattacharjee, superintendent of the 240-year-old Seth Sukhlal Karnani Memorial (SSKM) Hospital.

The hospital is planning to organise breast milk donation camps just like blood donation camps where they will invite mothers to donate milk, said Singh.