SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, June 15 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de Candelaria (HUNSC), a center attached to the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, has inaugurated this Thursday the milk bank of the hospital complex.
The purpose of this unit is to promote and delve into the benefits of breastfeeding.
The Pediatric service, to which it is attached, anticipates that around 50 premature newborn boys and girls or other neonates with various pathologies may benefit and that they may have breast milk thanks to the voluntary and altruistic donation of mothers, in those cases in which breastfeeding by the mother herself is not possible.
This project is part of the WHO and UNICEF Initiative for the Humanization of Birth and Breastfeeding Assistance, which began in 2016 at La Candelaria Hospital.
Thus, in 2019 work began on the nutrient analysis of breast milk and in 2020 the 2D certification was recognized by the IHAN, while progress continues in the certification consolidation process.
Thanks to the donation from the Rotary Organization, the Villa Feliz Social and Humanitarian Association and the Médicos de Tenerife Foundation of a pasteurizing machine, a laminar flow hood, a refrigerator and two industrial freezers, a further step is taken in this objective, counting with a fully equipped room ready to begin the process of receiving donations, reports the Ministry in a note.
The main objective of the health center’s milk bank is to guarantee breast milk feeding for premature babies and vulnerable neonates who require it by medical prescription in those cases in which these babies cannot be breastfed by their own mother for greater reasons.
On the other hand, the creation of the milk bank helps to promote, protect and support breastfeeding, promoting it exclusively for premature neonates or hospitalized patients.
It also encourages the donation of breast milk by those healthy women whose milk production allows them to breastfeed their child and donate the surplus.
