Nearly a hundred preterm and low-birth-weight babies at the State-run Vani Vilas Hospital have been getting supportive breast milk in the last three months at the hospital’s in-house milk bank.
This bank, which is the first government human milk bank in Karnataka, was formally inaugurated by Health and Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar on the occasion of International Women’s Day on Tuesday.
Named ‘Amruthdhare Human Milk Bank’, it has been functioning since November-end. So far, 27 litres of breast milk has been collected from donor mothers. Of this, 21 litres has been used to meet the needs of nearly a hundred babies.
Hospital Medical Superintendent Geeta Shivamurthy said nearly 20% of over 60 babies born in the hospital every day are in need of supportive breast milk. “This is either because they are born preterm or have low birth weight. Also, as some mothers have low milk supply (poor lactation), they are unable to breastfeed their babies to the required quantity. Vani Vilas attends to nearly 4,000 sick babies in a year,” she said.
