Fortis La Femme (hospital for women & children), Richmond Road in association with the Breast Milk Foundation (BMF), a non-profit organization within the GNS Foundation has recently launched Bengaluru’s first public Human Milk Bank, ‘’Amaara’’ . The centre recognizes that breast milk is the best nutritional food source for infants and should be available to babies deprived of mother’s milk.
Amaara is an initiative in line with the World Health Organization (WHO) Millennium Development Goals of reducing Infant Mortality rate. The WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) recommend that the best feed for a baby who cannot be breastfed, is milk expressed from own mother or from another healthy mother.
Over the last year, Amaara has successfully collected milk from 66 donor mothers and delivered it to 206 vulnerable new born babies across more than 10-12 hospitals in Delhi/NCR.
Anika Parashar, COO, Fortis La Femme said, “We at Fortis La Femme are overwhelmed with the successful launch of Amaara Human Milk Bank in our Bangalore Hospital after Delhi. We have pioneered a collection system in which a mother can express the milk in the comfort of her home, a carrier from the bank will collect the milk in specialized freezer boxes and transport it to the bank to be sent to a premature baby whenever needed. Amaara strengthens our promise to be a globally respected woman and child care provider known for exemplary clinical & holistic wellness care!’’
Dr Raghuram Mallaiah, Director Neonatology, Fortis La Femme & Co-Founder Amaara said, “In India prematurity and low birth weight are the biggest contributors of neonatal/infant mortality. According to recent government surveys prematurity is one of the 10 most common causes of mortality in all age groups. Donor human milk goes a long way in helping save these very vulnerable babies in our society and thereby decrease infant mortality. We are proud to set up Bengaluru’s first public human milk bank at Fortis La Femme to create a better space for infants to thrive.”
Dr Ankit Srivastava, Co-Founder Amaara said, “I feel joyous to be able to extend the ‘Amaara’ family and lend a hand to the needful preemies in another city. The milk-bank is definitely making progress, and we are overwhelmed with the response received from the people and hospitals of Delhi/NCR, and hope to see the same in Bengaluru.”
He further added “It makes me feel proud to be a part of such a remarkable peerless initiative and to be able to be assist and aid high risk newborns with the nurturing care that formula milk lacks to offer.”
The Milk Bank was inaugurated and supported by Hon. Mr. Ryszard Czarnecki, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium. He is also a member of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs and substitute for the Committee on Constitutional Affairs and a member of the Delegation for relations with the countries of South-East Europe.
