Uttar Pradesh will soon get its first 'mother's milk bank' in Lucknow. The bank will either come up at the King George Medical University or Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) .
The milk bank will be modelled like the of one functioning in Kalavati Saran Children's hospital in Delhi. The milk bank is being set up with an aim to bring down infant mortality rate and ensure adequate mother's milk for the babies, especially babies of working women.
According to Dr Anil Verma, general manager of the National Health Mission, this will be a first bank of its kind in the government sector.
In this bank mother milk can be preserved for three months at minus 20 degree Celsius. According to experts, about 20 to 30 per cent of babies are born weak and non –availability of adequate breast milk worsens their condition. The bank will be a boon for premature babies, born before 32 weeks and for those new born babies who suffer from poor growth in the womb caused by poor maternal health. The government will urge lactating mothers to donate their milk to this bank. At the milk bank, breast milk can be preserved for three months, at minus 20 degree Celsius.
The first National Human Milk Bank has been functioning at Lady Hardinge Medical College, Delhi. This is the first government-run human milk bank, and at present, the country’s largest. The milk bank, named Vatsalya-Maatri Amrit Kosh, was established in collaboration with the Norwegian government in June.
