Govt to honour breast milk donors on October 2

Three donors each from the 33 human milk banks across the state will be honoured, said Devendra Agarwal, adviser to the state health department for Aanchal mother’s milk bank project

The state government will felicitate 33 breast milk donors at a programme on October 2, an official said on Saturday.

Rajasthan has the largest network of 13 human milk banks. (File Photo/Reuters)

Three donors each from the 33 human milk banks across the state, will be honoured with mementoes at the event, said Devendra Agarwal, adviser to the state health department for Aanchal mother’s milk bank project.

There are three categories of awards will be given, including aanchal vatsalya award-- to mothers who are the first time donors, aanchal kalyani award-- to mothers who have donated milk for the maximum number of times-- and aanchal amrit da award—to mothers who have donated the maximum quantity of milk.

Naveen Jain, national health mission chief said, “Like the white revolution, these mothers have come forward for the mother’s milk revolution in the state.”

“State government officials, including those from the revenue department, have come forward to donate milk, which is very encouraging and has set an example for other mothers to come ahead and donate milk for needy newborns,” he said.

Rajasthan has the largest network of 13 human milk banks, including 10 district hospitals in Bharatpur, Alwar, Chittorgarh, Beawar, Banswara, Bhilwara, Bundi, Tonk, Baran and Churu and at the Rabindranath Tagore Medical College in Udaipur, Sawai Man Singh Medical College in Jaipur run by the government of Norway and one at private-run Mahatma Gandhi Medical College in Jaipur.

Al least 56,191 units--a unit has 30 ml—of milk have been provided to 7,513 neonates who were admitted at the neonatal intensive care units.

At present, the mothers’ milk banks have 6,605 units in stock. Human breast milk banks in Rajasthan provide breast-milk to the needy babies free of cost.