CAGAYAN DE ORO City — The City run JR Borja General Hospital (JRBGH) is set to open next month its “Human Milk Bank” as support to mothers who have difficulties in breast feeding their newly born babies.

Dr. Michael June Perez, acting chief of JRBGH, said in a statement that the facility and equipment for the processing of human milk is now ready to receive donations of human milk for processing and preservation.

He said the opening of the human milk bank facility is set on 22 August.

Aside from the human milk bank, the city hospital will also initiate local lactation support at the barangay level to help mothers who are having difficulties in breastfeeding their babies.

The human milk bank will be the second in the city. The Northern Mindanao Medical Center has also an existing human milk lactation facility as depository.

The facility accepts human milk donations from mothers who will undergo screening to insure they have no medical conditions that may affect their milk.

Just like blood bank, human milk banks, certain procedures are being implemented before mothers can donate their milk for storage.

Human milk banks offer families a chance to provide their child with reliable and healthy milk from other mothers. Human milk banks are needed as they offer milk which mostly is consumed by babies whose mothers are not able to provide with real edible milk.