Cuttack,December 12: The State government has decided to set up mothers’ milk bank in SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack and the Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar.
The move was taken in order to ensure that the newborn babies are not deprived of mother’s milk.
The program also involves an awareness campaign launched by the authorities of the SCB. The drive includes the involvement of lactating women to donate breast milk for effective management of the bank.
As per sources, a team of Paediatricians, led by the head of the department Professor Leena Das, is scheduled to attend a training programme on managing milk-banks. The experts will leave on December 21 for Hyderabad for the same.
Das, in a statement to the media persons, said that a place inside the Special Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) will soon be identified for the bank. Besides, necessary steps would be taken for proper preservation of the mothers’ milk.
Breast pumps and milk testing equipment will also be procured so that the lactating mothers admitted to the SNCU ward and Pediatric ward can feed their baby, Prof Das added.
An awareness campaign to educate and convince lactating mothers about the benefit of the mothers’ milk and the need of donating milk to the newborn babies, who are deprived of mothers’ milk after the death of their mother, has also been launched, Das further said.
Prasanta Patnaik