25 years of milkbanking in Mumbai

Lokmanya Tilak Hospital NICU

This is a wonderful article on India's oldest milk bank at the Lokmanya Tilak Hospital in Mumbai. It was originally funded by a private company and when that ran out its founder, Dr. Armida Fernandez, had to convince the local hospital to pick up the funding: 

"Dr. Fernandez had to get creative in her argument. She cited the popular Hindu myth of the god Lord Krishna, who was separated  from his biological mother at birth and nursed by another woman. The example, at once familiar and reverent, struck home, and eventually, the breast milk bank was allocated money from the hospital’s budget."

Read the whole article below:

After 25 Years, Modest Gains at Mumbai Breast Milk Bank

By MALAVIKA VYAWAHARE

 JUNE 27, 2014 9:23 AMJune 27, 2014 9:23 am

Photo

A woman breastfeeding her child on the outskirts of Siliguri, West Bengal. Only about 30 percent of newborns in India are breastfed in the first hour of birth.Credit Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters

MUMBAI — On a recent afternoon, 27-year-old Ashwini Agarwal adjusted her sari as she emerged from the crowded outpatient department at the Lokmanya Tilak Hospital, a public facility that houses the oldest of India’s roughly 14 breast milk banks, established a quarter of a century ago.... (more)