A young mother, Rushina Doctor Marfatia from Ahmedabad is donating her breast milk to five premature babies battling for their lives in the ICU, after she realised that she was producing more milk than her child could feed on.
A milk bank centre, which had begun its operations in the city, about a year back is helping her in the process.
"I was aware of the fact that mothers donate milk across the globe but in India, people do not give it much importance. However I realised that by donating my milk I could save the lives of other babies. Like we say, all heroes don't wear a cape..similarly, there are mothers out there who can save the lives of infants," said Rushina while speaking to .
She also urged other lactating mothers also to come forward to help the needy babies get the right nutrition.
"I would request every lactating mother to kindly step forward and think about other babies as well and donate their milk. I am still donating my milk as a mother's milk is very precious. It's a great feeling to help five other babies," she added.
Dr Ashish Mehta, a neonatologist told that there are some cases where some babies are unable to get fed by their biological mother's milk which than depend on other sources for the same. That milk is pasteurized and stored in a milk bank.
"Such situations do not occur here very frequently but milk banks are quite popular in every other country since ages," said Dr Mehta.
He also informed that as many as 200 mothers have opted for milk bank facility to donate the milk.
"Since 10 years I was thinking to start this facility and I finally did it one year ago. As an when a mother comes to know about this milk bank and is willing to come to donate, they approach here. Around 200 mothers have donated their milk so far. Our total collection since last one year is 90 litres out of which Rushina has donated 12 litres," he added.
Dr Mehta further stated that this is the first milk such bank facility launched in Ahmedabad. States like Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh do not have any milk bank facilities so far, he claimed.
"Rushina gave birth to her baby around three- four months back. She used to produce excess milk and as an educated and well-read woman, she knew that a mother's milk is extremely crucial and beneficial for an infant. A thorough check-up was conducted for Rushina before she donated her milk after which she regularly used to donate 300-500 ml milk on every second day and she has been donating for three months now," said Dr Mehta.
"Meanwhile, we found five babies who were unable to get milk from their biological mothers as the mother was either not alive or was unable to produce milk. These babies were really weak who used to weigh very less, before the donated milk came to their rescue. They are absolutely fine now," he added.
The Doctor further informed that in Norway and Finland mothers donate their milk on a regular basis and the practice needs to be encouraged in India.
( With inputs from ANI )