A human milk bank that collects, stores and dispenses breast milk to newborns in need and a neuro ECG colour Doppler for a variety of scans were commissioned at the Rajiv Gandhi Government Women & Children (RGGWC) Hospital on Tuesday.
The facilities were provided by a global grant project of Rotary District 2,981, India, — covering Puducherry and five revenue districts of Tamil Nadu — and District 1,760, France.
The Neuro-Echo Colour Doppler cost an estimated ₹18.8 lakh while the human milk bank was established at a cost of ₹ 8.8 lakh.
Catherine Suard, French Consul General in Puducherry, was the chief guest.
Prashant Kumar Panda, Health Secretary, S. Mohan Kumar, Director of Health, P. Sujatha, Medical Superintendent, J. Chitra (paediatrics), Rotary Governors S. Piraiyon, N. Manimaran, and Saravanan, Suresh Moutou, Ezhil and Suresh, Rotarians, also participated.
According to Gunasekar, Rotary Club of Pondicherry Central, the ECG color Doppler is one of the most useful tests in assessing patients with suspected or known heart problem and early detection of disorders. It is safe and can be done in all types of patients, newborns, children, elderly and pregnant women. It can even be done bedside for sick patients who cannot be moved out of bed, he said, adding that it’s a scan of choice for patients with heart valve problems and can detect abnormalities, especially in the new born, including holes in the heart or flawed blood vessel connections.
The human milk bank, only the second in the city after JIPMER, encourages young mothers to donate breast milk for the benefit of other needy children whose mothers may not be lactating due to various reasons.
The service collects, screens, processes, and dispenses by prescription, human milk donated by nursing mothers who are not biologically related to the recipient infant.
The bank plays a vital role as the optimum nutrition for newborn infants is breastfeeding, if possible, for the first year.
Human milk banks offer a solution to the mothers who cannot supply their own breast milk to their child, for reasons such as a baby being at risk of getting diseases and infections from a mother with certain diseases, or when a child is hospitalised at birth due to heavy loss of weight, and the mother cannot provide her own milk during the extended stay for reasons such as living far from the hospital.
