Chandigarh, Feb 17 (IANS): The Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research here on Thursday said it has started the 'human milk bank' service for inborn neonates.

The human milk is collected from eligible mothers and stored in the milk bank after screening for infections and pasteurisation and given to preterm babies whose mothers are not able to provide them milk.

Breast milk is always the preferred feed for any neonate either from their own mothers and if mother's own milk not available, then donor human milk is the next best choice, specially for preterm babies.

The breast milk has many advantages as it protects babies from infection and reduces mortality.

This is the second milk bank in this region and now the PGI has all the modern equipment to run it. There are more than 100 milk banks across the country and the government aims to establish comprehensive lactation management centres in all medical colleges and districts to improve breastmilk feeding rates.

Most western countries also have milk banks to cater to their preterm neonates.

The PGI has a very high number of preterm deliveries and this milk bank will go a long way in feeding the sick and very preterm babies.