Agartala: In response to the call of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Tripura government has decided to set up the first Comprehensive Lactational Management Centre (CLMC), popularly known as Breast Milk Bank at the state referral hospital – IGM.
The Chairman of Rogi Kalyan Samiti (Patient welfare body) of IGM, BJP MLA, and renowned gynecologist of the state Dr. Dilip Das said CLMC will accumulate the breast milk to be donated voluntarily by the lactate mothers.
The CLMC is likely to be operational by end of this year in Agartala, which will be the second fully equipped breast milk bank in eastern India after SSKM, Kolkata.
The CLMC will function like a blood bank to cater to the emergency feeding of newborns.
Around 20 percent of children in state referral hospital IGM are daily facing the problem of breastfeeding either due to inadequate flow of the mother or the inability of the newborn to extract milk. So, CLMC will cater to the feeding needs of newborn babies, Dr. Das said.
Dr. Das said that there will be a full set-up for the donation of breast milk by lactic mothers daily, which will be stored in a special container at a prescribed temperature. The donated breast milk will be consumable between six months and one year.
However, before giving to any child all necessary tests in a special set-up would be carried out.
