A national consultative meeting for formulating guidelines on human milk banking in India was held here Sunday, a spokesperson said.
Inaugurating the meeting, Haryana Health and Medical Education Minister Rao Narender Singh said that mother's milk is a must for proper development of a child and no substitute can replicate its nutritious value.
The one-day consultative meeting was organised jointly by the central government, Infant & Young Child Feeding (IYCF) of Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) and Smt Santra Devi Health & Education Trust Gurgaon. Experts from all over India participated in the meeting.
The first Human Breast Milk Bank was established in Mumbai on November 27, 1989. There are 10 such milk banks in India, of which five are in Mumbai alone.