The Quezon City Human Milk Bank (QCHMB) has recently extended its services to in-need babies admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Tala Hospital, Caloocan City.
Three liters of pasteurized breast milk were donated to Tala for infants whose mothers are COVID-19 patients and under quarantine. Sick and premature babies will also benefit from the donated breast milk.
“It has always been part of the QC Human Milk Bank’s program to extend our services to in need infants and moms regardless of the city they are in,” QCHMB Head Dr. Shahani Duque said.
The QCHMB and the QC Health Department (QCHD) collects donated human milk from breastfeeding moms in the city’s 32 lying-in clinics. Aside from these, the QCHMB also continuously picks up bags of milk from screened private donors.
In May, the QCHMB also provided seven liters of pasteurized human milk to neonates at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) affected by the fire accident in the hospital. Last year, the city also helped breastfeeding mothers affected by the Taal Volcano eruption.
“The donations were made possible because of the continued support of our QC mother donors. We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to [those] who, despite the pandemic, still continue to donate their extra breast milk to the milk bank, which we give out to babies in need,” Duque added.
The Quezon City Human Milk bank was established in 2015 to aid babies and their mothers who experience difficulty breastfeeding, such as patients at the neonatal and pediatric intensive care units of the city’s hospitals.
To date, it has donated over 979,624 milliliters of pasteurized milk to 5,023 beneficiaries not only in the city, but also to babies as far as Mindanao.
The local government of Quezon City joins the nation in celebrating National Breastfeeding Awareness Month this August, and continues its many initiatives to ensure that mothers, even in the midst of the pandemic, continue to provide nutrition to their infants through sustained breastfeeding for the first 1,000 days of their lives.
Breastfeeding mothers who are interested in donating their milk may coordinate with the QCHMB at 8863-0800, or they may send a message to the Quezon City Human Milk Bank facebook page. https://web.facebook.com/QC.HUMANMILKBANK # (QC LGU) – jlo
