King George Hospital (KGH) to Set Up Human Milk Bank

King George Hospital (KGH) is set to establish a human milk bank to provide donor breast milk for newborns whose mothers are unable to breastfeed due to medical or other reasons. The facility, coming up in the Seemank building, is expected to become operational within the next two months.

The Dhatri Mother’s Human Milk Bank is being established under the aegis of the State Health Department in association with the Andhra Medical College Old Students’ Association (AMCOSA) and the Sushena Health Foundation. The project, estimated to cost ₹2.3 crore, is being funded by AMCOSA, which is contributing about ₹30 lakh, and the Sushena Health Foundation, which is providing the remaining amount.

According to hospital authorities, the milk bank will primarily cater to premature babies, low-birth-weight infants and critically ill newborns, for whom human breast milk is considered the optimal source of nutrition and immunity. Donor milk will be provided in cases where mothers are unable to breastfeed immediately after delivery owing to delayed lactation or underlying medical conditions.

Healthy lactating women will be encouraged to donate breast milk voluntarily. The donated milk will be screened, pasteurised and stored in accordance with standard scientific protocols before being supplied to eligible infants.

The facility will be equipped with milk processing and pasteurisation units, deep freezers for long-term storage, a counselling centre to promote awareness of breastfeeding and milk donation, and a dedicated reverse osmosis (RO) water purification system.

KGH Superintendent I. Vani said the hospital handles hundreds of deliveries every year and regularly encounters cases in which mothers are unable to breastfeed immediately after childbirth. The proposed milk bank would ensure that such newborns continue to receive the nutritional and immunological benefits of human breast milk during the critical neonatal period, she said.