CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — The city council on Monday approved an ordinance for a supplemental budget of P48 million for additional hiring of the city-run JR Borja General Hospital (JRBGH) and additional incentives for, health workers there.

Councilor Malou Gaane, chairperson of the city council committee on health, said the additional funding which will be taken from the savings of the city is aimed to hire new health workers to fill up vacancies to make the hospital more effective in delivering health services to the city residents.

Last month, the city-run hospital opened 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 that the facility and equipment for the processing of human milk is already ready to receive donations of human milk for processing and preservation.

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 lactation facility as depository of human milk.

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.