Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 17 (IANS): After a year of successful operation of the Kozhikode Breast milk bank, the Kerala health department on Saturday announced that similar banks will be set up at the Women and Children hospitals at Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur.

State Health Minister Veena George on Saturday after visiting the Kozhikode breast milk bank said this bank has been a huge succour to many mothers and kids.

The whole purpose of this state-of-the-art breast milk bank is to promote breast feeding and to give all the support to kids and new mothers. The Kozhikode breast milk bank since its opening a year back has so far helped 1,813 kids with 1,397 mothers donating breast milk to the bank. So far 1,26,225 ml of breast milk has been collected and 1,16,315 ml has been distributed," said George.

This bank provides collected milk to the needy babies, after all the mandatory tests are conducted at the state of the art laboratory attached to the Kozhikode Medical College hospital.

George said similar banks will very soon open at Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur.