Dikhyaa Mohanty 
The first human milk bank in Odisha was inaugurated at the paediatric unit of Capital Hospital here and later two mothers donated milk to the facility. Especially, the state government has been considering opening such banks since December 2018 with SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack and the Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar being picked for the purpose.
According to the reports, this facility, an initiative by National Health Mission (NHM), at Capital Hospital is the 34th Comprehensive Lactation Management Centre (CLMC) in the country.
Capital Hospital Director Dr Laxmidhar Sahu said “Mothers’ milk will be stored in the facility and supplied to hospitals across the state if the need arises. Breast milk is an elixir for kids. Unfortunately, some mothers are unable to breastfeed their newborn baby in the initial few weeks due to various reasons, including poor health and delivery-related issues. In such situations, the newborn suffers. This human milk bank will prove to be a boon in such cases.”
Among others, Health Director Bijay Mohapatra and hospital Deputy Superintendent Dr Dhananjay Das were also present.
