Human Milk Bank Inaugurated At Lady Hardinge Medical College

A national human milk bank was inaugurated at Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC) in Delhi on Wednesday to provide breast milk to newborns who cannot be nursed by their own mothers.

The human milk bank and lactation counselling centre, 'Vatsalya - Maatri Amrit Kosh', will collect, pasteurise, test and store milk donated by lactating mothers and make it available for infants in need.

Union Health Secretary C K Mishra, who inaugurated the facility, said the bank would provide life-saving human milk to all newborns in and around Delhi. He said despite everybody knowing the importance of mother's milk for a child, breastfeeding is not widespread in India.

"We launched mothers absolute affection (MAA) programme to create awareness about breastfeeding, which is the most cost-effective way of enhancing a child's immunity," Mishra said.

The 'Vatsalya – Maatri Amrit Kosh' has been set up in collaboration with the Norwegian government, Oslo University and Norway India Partnership Initiative (NIPI).