Karnataka: Breast Milk proposed to be sold at Hospitals

If the said proposal is accepted by BMCRI, breast milk will be up for sale for the first time in the country.

Dr. Premlatha, Head of the Department of Paediatrics in Vani Vilas, said there was a need for a breast milk bank in the hospital as it attends to nearly 4,000 sick babies a year.

Objections 

Although the idea has benefits for the starving babies, who cannot get adequate milk from their mothers due to medical reasons, the proposal has been opposed by certain legal and medical fraternities within the state.

Breast feeding advocates and doctors have raised negative impacts of the idea of commercialization of human milk. They have called it exploitation of poor mothers within the state.

Asha Benakappa, director of the State-run Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health stated, “Breast milk is tailor made and is specific to individual babies. The only way a poor woman can nourish her baby is with her own breast milk at no cost. If there is a market, she may sell it and make her baby a victim of malnutrition and death. This is nothing but exploitation of the poor and this may go the voluntary blood bank way.”

In this regard, a doctor from the state, Dr. Tiwari have also questioned the proposal of selling mother milk and said that “The first condition for any human milk bank to come up is that it should not be for sale but for sick and preterm babies who are unable to get the required breast milk from their mothers. We have also framed guidelines for setting up the banks and are collaborating with the Union Health Ministry to train and provide guidance to set up more banks in government hospitals.”

 

[poll id=27079]