KAKINADA: For the first time in AP, a Talli Pala Nidhi (storage of mothers’ milk) unit was set up in the name of Dhatri “Comprehensive Lactation Management Centre (CLMC) at the Government General Hospital here on Monday.
The GGH had signed an agreement with Dhatri, Sushena Health Foundation and NCC to store mothers’ milk in the unit. It was set up at a cost of Rs 50 lakh.
District collector Kritika Shukla, who inaugurated the unit, said, “For the first six months, mothers’ milk would be given to infants. Infants getting emergency treatment used to be given artificial milk instead of their mother’s milk. Now, such infants can have mothers’ milk.”
She said the unit has been set up with advanced technology. The milk is collected from healthy mothers and stored in the unit. It would be given to the infants after tests in the laboratories.
GGH superintendent Dr Hemalatha said that the milk can be stored for six months to a year. “It can also be given to infants whose mothers don’t have sufficient milk.”
The collector inaugurated the newly decorated wards in the GGH. Indian Red Cross Society and other voluntary organisations decorated the wards with beautiful wall paintings in order to give a pleasant atmosphere to the children. A used-cloth box has also been set up in the GGH. The clothes thus deposited would be distributed to orphans and the poor.
Sushena Health Foundation president Durga Prasad, Dhatri Foundation representative Dr Santhosh, Padma Shri awardee Sankurathri Chandrasekhar, district medical and health officer Santhi Prabha, GGH RMO Anitha, Rangaraya Medical College principal Narasimham and others were present.
