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Safdarjung Hospital starts milk bank for newborns admitted to NICU

There are around 100 milk banks across the country, the majority of them in South India. In Delhi, Kalawati Saran Hospital, Chacha Nehru Children’s Hospital and AIIMS have milk banks.

A medical examination at the New Civil hospital also confirmed that she had delivered a child one day ago (Express Photo)

Safdarjung Hospital has launched a Lactation Management Unit (LMU), a centre where a mother will have facilities at her disposal to collect, store and dispense breast milk that can be consumed within a period of three months by her baby who is admitted to the hospital’s Mother-NICU (neonatal intensive care unit).

Dr Ratan Gupta, head of Department of Pediatrics at Safdarjung Hospital, said the milk bank will annually benefit around 2,000 newborns admitted to Mother-NICU. “We have parents who come to the hospital with critically ill newborns from Palval, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Meerut. Such infants have a high risk of mortality. The milk bank will be highly useful for them,” Dr Gupta added.

The LMU will cater to newborns who are preterm – born alive before 37 weeks of pregnancy are completed – on ventilator, on CPAP (providing respiratory support), have pneumonia or are not able to breast feed. The mother’s milk will be stored and fed to the child with the help of a tube whenever required within three months.

There are around 100 milk banks across the country, the majority of them in South India. In Delhi, Kalawati Saran Hospital, Chacha Nehru Children’s Hospital and AIIMS have milk banks. In Kalawati Saran Hospital, the facility can only be availed by infants who are born at the hospital.

According to Safdarjung Hospital’s Medical Superintendent Dr Sandeep Bansal, studies have shown that breastfeeding can improve neurodevelopmental outcomes with three additional IQ points for children who are breastfed.

Dr Sugandha Arya, in charge of Mother-NICU, said the country experiences 27 million births annually, with a concerning neonatal mortality rate of 20 deaths per 1,000 live births. “This facility will substantially reduce neonatal mortality and morbidity at Safdarjung Hospital,” she added.

“Wth India contributing to 25% of the global preterm burden, it is estimated that 3/4th reduction in mortality is possible with cost effective and feasible interventions, like breastfeeding. It has the potential to prevent 1,60,000 under-five deaths in India each year,” she said.

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