India's famous badminton player Jwala Gutta is known for her aggressive drop shots and four forehand serves. Recently, she did a 'service' that is being discussed everywhere! She donated about 30 liters of breast milk. Her actor-director husband Vishnu Vishal informed about this through a social media post. He made this donation through 'Amritham Foundation', which collects breast milk from mothers and delivers it to needy newborns. This milk was further sent to the Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children in Chennai. Breast milk banks have been working in India for more than three decades. The question arises that what is the benefit of this and how does it reach needy babies.
When a healthy mother's body produces enough milk for her child and also produces extra milk, she can donate this extra milk to a human milk bank. There this milk is tested and pasteurized and given to premature or sick babies. These are the babies whose mothers are unable to feed them milk. That is why it is called liquid gold!
'Liquid Gold' is given to save the lives of premature and sick newborn babies. It contains every nutrient, antibody, and enzyme required by the baby. Mother's milk contains antibacterial elements, which increase the immunity of the baby, and the sweetest part is that the mother can donate an average of 25-30 ml of extra milk in a day, which can meet the needs of an infant.
What is the whole process? The donated milk is pasteurized and can be stored in the freezer for 3 to 6 months. One very important thing, the donor mother's blood test is done first. The mother should be completely healthy and should not have any serious disease or infection like HIV or hepatitis. Medical screening is necessary before donation. In some countries, breast milk is also sold online, but in India it is a completely free and humanitarian service, just like Jwala Gutta did!
Jwala gave birth to a daughter in April. This process has been going on since then. On August 17, she had told on social media that her milk is not only helpful for her daughter, but also for those children who are fighting the battle of life - those children who are born prematurely and are sick. Donor milk can change lives. She shared some pictures with this post in which she was seen sitting with 70 packets of milk. Actually, the purpose of this initiative is to make people aware about 'milk donation' and inspire other mothers to also take part in this humanitarian work.
The tradition of donating milk is not new. In India, there is mention of 'Dhatri Maa' or 'Doodh Mata' in centuries-old stories. In ancient times, when a woman could not produce milk or lost her child, another woman would feed the child with her milk. This was considered a 'sacred duty'.
Scientifically, the first official 'human milk bank' was established in Vienna in 1909. While the first milk bank in India was started in 1989 at Sion Hospital, Mumbai. Today, there are dozens of milk banks across the country, which give life to premature and sick babies.
Such donation is not just a personal act of charity but also a big message to the society that breast milk is a boon not just for a mother's child but also for needy newborns. Mother's milk saves lives for premature babies as their immune systems are weak and they are more vulnerable to external infections.
Gutta has set an example of amazing humanity. She is a well-known personality whose act has made many understand the importance of this very important donation. This donation has made it clear that love cannot be expressed in words, but sometimes a few drops can give a new dawn to a life.
