Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], March 10 (ANI): On Wednesday, the Odisha government established its first-ever Human Milk Bank in the state, intended to fulfil the nutritional needs of newborns. The newborns are deprived of their mother's milk due to so many reasons.

This Human Breast Milk Bank is inaugurated at the Pediatrics Department of the Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar, thus making it the one amongst the 34 other such banks in the country.

Also Read | Jammu and Kashmir: Missing Army Jawan Sameer Ahmad Malla Found Dead in Budgam.

"The mother's milk is an elixir for a newborn and our aim is to meet the need of mother's milk to feed infants who are unable to get breast milk of their mother in the initial few weeks due to various reasons like illness or death of the mother, premature delivery, etc," Dr LD Sahu, Director, Capital Hospital told ANI.

According to Sahu, a campaign will also be launched to encourage lactating mothers for donating their breast milk to such infants. "Any lactating mother can voluntarily donate her excess milk in this facility. At present, we have the storage capacity of 200 litres and it can be stored for six months after sterilizing it using scientific processes," he added.

Also Read | Assembly Election Results 2022: Voters Have Rejected Dynasty Politics on PM Narendra Modi's Appeal, Says BJP.

The Milk Banks are a part of a nationwide movement led by the National Health Mission to initiate Lactation Management Centres at secondary and tertiary levels of public health services. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)