Deenanath Hospital to introduce first breast milk bank to help premature babies survive
Deenanath Hospital to introduce first breast milk bank to help premature babies surviveSoon the city will have its very own human milk bank, so essential to the survival of neonates. The concept, not unlike a blood bank, will be started in Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital with the help of Rotary Club, Nariman Point, Mumbai. Dr Rajan Joshi, head of paediatrics, Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, said the Rs 20-lakh project would be the eighth in the country. The project will be inaugurated on June 26 by Dr Jayant Kulkarni, district governor, Rotary Club of Nariman Point, with Dr Dhananjay Kekkar, medical director, Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital.
Joshi said the milk bank would not be a money-making project. "The milk will be ideally suited to neonates born prematurely," said Joshi. "Milk substitutes or supplements may do more harm than good to the baby. So, these milk banks will assist in giving them a better chance of survival." Joshi said such milk could not be stored in a refrigerator as there is a danger of it getting infected. "With the latest ultra-modern technology, scientifically pasteurised milk kept in a cold storage can retain its nutrition value even for a period of one year," he said. "As per the medical norms, healthy mothers can donate their milk."
Soon one at Sassoon Dr Renu Bharadwaj, dean of Sassoon Hospital, welcomed the idea of such a milk bank. "Our hospital would have been the first in Pune if the mother's milk bank project initiated by Dr Sandhya Khadase, pediatrician, five years ago, had materialised. "Sassoon has a big maternity ward and such a milk bank is required here urgently. This project shall take off soon," she said.u00a0
Other milk banksHuman milk banks are already popular in Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, UK and USA. In India, the first human milk bank was set up by Dru00a0 Armida Fernandez at Lokmanya Tilak Hospital in Sion on November 27, 1989. There are now eight milk banks in the country. Four are in Mumbai at Lokmanya Tilak Hospital, Sion, KEM Hospital, Parel, J J Hospital, Byculla and Cama Hospital in CST and one each in Panjim Medical College, Goa, Fernandez Hospital, Hyderabad, and SIMMER in Surat and Baroda in Gujarat.
