Do you know that mother’s milk is called ‘Liquid Gold’? It is precious and full of nutrition that is invaluable for infants.

Premature babies in the NICU, infants whose mothers are sick and separated from them due to critical illness like cancer, injury or even death will find donated breast milk invaluable. Babies who are adopted or born through surrogacy will also be in need of the milk, and they can get that only if lactating mothers come forward to donate, because there is no substitute for mother's milk.

In order to provide a secure and convenient platform for mothers willing to donate their excess breast milk to benefit such babies, a mother’s milk bank ATM was inaugurated at Sri Ramakrishna Rural Health Center, Pachapalayam, Coimbatore.

This ATM for mother’s milk is equipped with instruments and amenities required to collect and store the milk in a safe way. It is a joint initiative by a Rotary Club in Coimbatore called ‘Cotton City’, and it is supported by Shrenik Jayantilal Bafna and Shanthiniketan Silks Pvt Ltd.

Healthy women who are breast feeding a baby less than 2 years and not currently taking any strong medications, and are ready to be screened (or) already screened for HIV and Hepatitis B and C . Interested women can dial the 24/7 helpline 91500 61020 to know how to donate.

The ATM was inaugurated by D.Lakshnminarayanaswamy, Managing Trustee of SNR Sons Charitable Trust (the parent organization that runs Sri Ramakrishna Hospital and Sri Ramakrishna Educational Institutions).

At the event, 2 liters of donated breast milk was handed over to the Milk Bank set up at Sri Ramakrishna Hospital by the NGO named Achintya.

The breast milk that is donated will be provided to the babies in need at free of cost. Donors willing to donate can visit the ATM at Pachapalayam or the other one at Women’s Center by Motherhood. If visiting the ATMs is a trouble, then the willing women need to just dial the helpline mentioned above, and the representatives from the ATM will visit their places.

Since the Breast Milk Bank project came into effect in August 2021, the representatives have travelled extensively in and out of Tamil Nadu to collect milk from donors.

“By coming forward to donate, a mother is willing to share the food of her baby; that is extraordinary and we won’t turn down the opportunity she is giving us because of the distance. We have travelled to Chennai, Bengaluru, Pondicherry and other parts of Tamil Nadu besides Coimbatore. We will visit their place to collect if they can’t make it here,” says Dr.Neethika Prabhu, a person who is closely working on this project.

The milk collected is processed using state of the art equipment and is tested in NABL accredited lab in Sri Ramakrishna Hospita. Only after completing all these procedures the milk is given to babies in need.

So far, nearly 10 lakh milliliters of breast milk has been collected from 350+ mothers and the milk has been provided to 650+ infants. Another Mother’s Milk Bank ATM is in plans.