Kerala all set to open its first human milk bank on February 5 India Published: Tuesday, February 2, 2021, 14:15 [IST] Kochi, Feb 02: Kerala's first Human Milk Bank (HMB), a state-of-art facility will be opened at the Ernakulam general hospital on Friday by Health Minister KK Shailaja. Set up with the support of the Rotary Club of Cochin Global, the milk bank is to ensure breast milk for new born babies, who are not being breastfed by their own mothers who may be sick, deceased or due to insufficient production of breast milk, in the hospital. Although approximately 3600 babies are born in the general hospital a year, 600 to 1,000 sick babies are admitted into the NICU. "Providing the low birth-weight premature babies, infants whose mothers are unable to provide sufficient milk and babies separated from mothers due to many reasons with the pasteurized breast milk from the bank will reduce the risk of infections and boost their immunity," said Dr Paul PG of Rotary Cochin Global.