New mother of Rajasthan will now be taught about the importance of breastfeeding in the newly established 25 clinics in 13 districts of the state. The decision has been taken in order to bring down the neonatal and infant mortality rate while ensuring a healthy future for the mothers and the infants.
The Advisor to the State Health Department for Aanchal Mother’s Milk Bank project, Mr. Devendra Agarwal said that mother’s milk offers as the cheapest solution for reducing infant mortality rate.
Project Details
The project is expected to cost around INR 2 Crores which will be provided by the Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation Ltd (RIICO). Reportedly, by the end of this fiscal year, 13 districts of the state where there is a high delivery load will have 25 breastfeeding clinics for educating mothers and taking care of the infants.
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Services at the Clinics
In addition to breastfeeding facilitation, these clinics will be responsible for training, counseling and treatment of lactating mothers. The new mothers will be taught how to hold the babies and how to feed them. Their families will also be informed about vital pieces of information such as they can’t give water, honey or ghutti in the first six months of the baby’s birth.
The mothers will be shifted to breastfeeding clinics as soon as they give birth. This would ensure that the baby gets mother’s milk within 1 hour of being born. The ANM (Auxiliary Nursing Midwifery) and GNM (General Nursing Midwifery) staff will be responsible to ensure the early initiation of breastfeeding (EIBF).
Expected Result
It’s believed that the services of these clinics will significantly help mothers having pre mature delivery or cases when babies are unable to suck because of cleft lips or non-formation of milk. Due to the efforts made through this service, the infant mortality rate can be brought down by 22%, survival chances of newborns can increase 6-fold and the recovery of neonates in the Sick New Born unit are expected to be 40% faster.
Districts
Currently the breastfeeding clinics and mother milk banks are already present in district hospitals located in Bharatpur, Beawar, Bundi, Alwar, Tonk, Banswara, Churu, Bhilwara, Baran, Chittorgarh, Jaipur, and Udaipur. All these places will have two breastfeeding clinics to handle high delivery load along with one facility at Sirohi.
