Rajasthan’s 1st milk bank

April 18, 2016 Hot from the Oven Valli Sarvani No comments

Divya Mother Milk Bank is a first of its kind bank in not just Rajasthan but also in North India. As the name suggests, it is a bank of mother’s milk collected from various donors. The bank started three years ago amidst a lot of uncertainty from many people. Now, it has collected around 20,000 units of milk from 3,000 donors and has benefitted more than 1,500 infants. All these infants would have suffered without having breast milk.

In the beginning of the bank, a lot of counseling was needed to convince a donor mother. However, due its success, many women are now walking in daily to donate their surplus milk to help babies who need the milk.

The success of that bank has led to the first state run ‘Jeewan Dhara’ milk bank at the JK Lon hospital in collaboration with the Norwegian government. The government has started the plan to set up one Human Milk Bank at each district headquarters in three years.

Devendra Agrawal, the man who came up with idea and who is currently the state advisor for the milk bank program says that the bank gives breast milk to sick, premature babies. He says that breast milk is very important for the recovery and survival of such babies.

The Divya Bank is very helpful for mothers who are unable to supply breast milk. In such cases, donated human milk is the next best option for the baby. The milk is collected, screened, pasteurized, and distributed while maintaining complete hygiene with it in the bank. It supports the mothers who are not able to feed the baby at the time of birth. This could happen due to many reasons.

Last year, the bank started community human milk bank service in order to improve neonatal health. According to a survey by Rajasthan government, 42 percent of newborns in the state were not properly nourished and did not have mother’s milk. The bank helps many such infants.

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