The Numaish Festive Edit 2024 will showcase an impressive array of over 90 exclusive designers
Kerala’s first Human Milk Bank (HMB), a state-of-the-art facility will be opened at the Ernakulam general hospital here on Friday by Health Minister K K Shailaja. Set up with the support of the Rotary Club of Cochin Global, the milk bank is to ensure breast milk for new born babies, who are not being breastfed by their own mothers who may be sick, deceased or due to insufficient production of breast milk.
Although approximately 3600 babies are born in the general hospital a year, 600 to 1,000 sick babies are admitted into the NICU.
“Providing the low birth-weight premature babies, infants whose mothers are unable to provide sufficient milk and babies separated from mothers due to many reasons with the pasteurized breast milk from the bank will reduce the risk of infections and boost their immunity,” said Dr Paul P G of Rotary Cochin Global. Though the concept had come to India 32 years back, Kerala did not have a milk bank till now.
This is where Rotary took the lead to bring the project to the state with two such breast milk banks - one at Ernakulam and the other at Jubilee Medical Mission Hospital at Thrissur.
All safety protocols and procedures for collecting, preserving and providing it to needy children will be ensured as per government guidelines.
The collected milk can be stored up to 6 months safely in the bank, if needed, before it is given to an infant.
In the beginning, the milk will be provided free of cost to only the babies admitted in the neonatal intensive care unit of the hospital.
Later on, a network of hospitals for multiple collection and safe distribution points will be planned. The donors will be the mothers from the hospital who have delivered babies there and will have all their health statistics available at the hospital.
“The mothers with excess milk will be encouraged to participate in the noble cause to save the life of other new born babies,” he said.
The human milk bank, which consists of a pasteurization unit, refrigerators, deep freezers, RO plant, sterilizing equipment and computers, was set up at a cost of Rs 35 lakh.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the state health department and Rotary Club of Cochin Global last year for setting up the bank.
However, the project got delayed following the outbreak of Covid-19.
The Indian Medical Association(IMA) together with the Indian Association of Pediatricians (IAP) has provided a trained nursing staff for operating the milk bank at the General Hospital.
The Numaish Festive Edit 2024 will showcase an impressive array of over 90 exclusive designers
With the festive season around the corner, the new store promises unbeatable deals for shoppers
Hezbollah blamed Israel for the explosion of thousands of its operatives' pagers and radios in attacks that spanned two days this week
Customers can now receive up to 80 per cent of their iPhone’s value back on their next upgrade
Physioveda is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and therapeutic equipment, offering advanced physiotherapy solutions
The Collective brings a fresh take on modern silhouettes and eclectic designs
Workers have been demanding higher wages and recognition of a union at the plant near Chennai, which contributes roughly a third of Samsung's annual India revenue of $12 billion
A spokesperson for Brussels Airlines said it would need to cancel 80% of its 203 flights scheduled for the day