In a Mumbai hospital, a Mother’s Milk Bank saves babies

Hospital in Sion has already collected 924 litres, doctors say mother’s milk fights infection like no formula can

No formula milk, no cow milk for infants here. Breast milk is the new, all-important replacement feed for premature and sick babies at government hospitals in Mumbai. In fact, the Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital (LTMGH) in Sion, Asia’s first human milk bank, has created a record of sorts by collecting 924 litres of milk from “mother donors”.

And Dr Armida Fernandez, the founder of the human milk bank, has reason to smile. In Pune to speak on breast feeding, Fernandez told The Indian Express that the success story of the Sion human milk bank has prompted other hospitals to follow suit.

According to Jayashree Mondkar, Head of the Department of Neonatology at the LTMGH, the hospital started such a bank in 1989. And then hospitals like KEM, J J and Cama Albless set up their banks in 2005, 2006 and 2007 respectively. There are plans to create another one at the Bhabha municipal hospital in Mumbai.

Fernandez, who has made it a mission to promote breast feeding, cites scientific data on how human milk given to a pre-term baby on a ventilator prevents diabetes, asthma and other allergies.

But it hasn’t been easy starting such milk banks in the country. With no uniform standards for quality control, a format for developing a breast milk bank and the protocol for donor screening, collection techniques, transport and storage of milk need to be presented.

“We perform around 12,000 deliveries every year and mothers are more than willing to donate breast milk after intensive counselling,” said Mondkar.

The milk is collected, pasteurized at 65 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes and then frozen at minus 20 degrees Celsius. This milk can last six months and is a boon for sick and abandoned babies, said Fernandez.

Story continues below this ad

Dr Umesh Vaidya, Head of the Neonatal ICU at KEM hospital in Pune, agrees. “The best of formula feeds are not even close to the benefits an infant gets from human breast milk.” He said such banks can help check diarrhoea and infections, the main causes for infant deaths.