As many as 351 bus depots in the State will now have separate rooms for mothers to breastfeed their babies. In seven government hospitals, breast milk banks have been set up. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa commissioned these facilities on Monday through videoconference.
The new facilities were inaugurated as part of the ongoing week-long World Breastfeeding Week celebrations. The theme for this year is ‘Breastfeeding and Work – Let’s make it work’.
Breast milk bank
The first breast milk bank was launched last year at the Institute of Child Health. Such banks have been set up in the Mahatma Gandhi memorial Hospital, Tiruchi; Government Rajaji Hospital, Madurai; Government Medical College Hospitals in Coimbatore and Theni; Mohan Kumaramangalam Government Medical College in Salem and the Raja Mirasudhar Government Medical College Hospital in Thanjavur. Each bank has been set up at a cost of Rs. 10 lakh where a mother can donate her milk. It will be screened for organisms and then stored. The bank is equipped with refrigeration facility and milk extraction equipment.
Health department officials said the milk would be used to feed orphaned babies and infants of sick mothers, thus preventing infant deaths.
