New sinister form of organ trade

Just went through this news item. On the face of it it is quite innocent but it may result in large scale exploitation of poor women for rich kids.!!!


In a Mumbai hospital, a Mother’s Milk Bank saves babies
Anuradha Mascarenhas
Posted online: Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 0000 hrs Print Email
Hospital in Sion has already collected 924 litres, doctors say mother’s milk fights infection like no formula can

Dr Armida Fernandez, bank founder
Related Stories

Vitamin D could add years to your life: StudyTake up national service with pride, medicos toldFather as filmmaker: helping his autistic son reach for the Asmaan Bone bank to procure cadaver bones from IndiaStudy shows decline in HIV incidence in high-risk groups

PUNE, SEPTEMBER 11: No formula milk, no cow milk for infants here. Breast milk is the new, all-important replacement feed for premature and sick babies at government hospitals in Mumbai. In fact, the Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital (LTMGH) in Sion, Asia’s first human milk bank, has created a record of sorts by collecting 924 litres of milk from “mother donors”.

And Dr Armida Fernandez, the founder of the human milk bank, has reason to smile. In Pune to speak on breast feeding, Fernandez told The Indian Express that the success story of the Sion human milk bank has prompted other hospitals to follow suit.

According to Jayashree Mondkar, Head of the Department of Neonatology at the LTMGH, the hospital started such a bank in 1989. And then hospitals like KEM, J J and Cama Albless set up their banks in 2005, 2006 and 2007 respectively. There are plans to create another one at the Bhabha municipal hospital in Mumbai.

Fernandez, who has made it a mission to promote breast feeding, cites scientific data on how human milk given to a pre-term baby on a ventilator prevents diabetes, asthma and other allergies.

But it hasn’t been easy starting such milk banks in the country. With no uniform standards for quality control, a format for developing a breast milk bank and the protocol for donor screening, collection techniques, transport and storage of milk need to be presented.

“We perform around 12,000 deliveries every year and mothers are more than willing to donate breast milk after intensive counselling,” said Mondkar.

The milk is collected, pasteurized at 65 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes and then frozen at minus 20 degrees Celsius. This milk can last six months and is a boon for sick and abandoned babies, said Fernandez.

Dr Umesh Vaidya, Head of the Neonatal ICU at KEM hospital in Pune, agrees. “The best of formula feeds are not even close to the benefits an infant gets from human breast milk.” He said such banks can help check diarrhoea and infections, the main causes for infant deaths.

Storm in tea cup

Sometimes back I was reading an article by Jayati Ghosh in Hindu about so called education gurantee scheme. She asked a simple question when we buy something from market with word "guarantee" it means a minimum level of performance and quality is assured failing which consumer can have redressal.
So in all this government scheme purporting "guarantee" where is the quality ???
A corollary of this argument is that when you are underpaying for some good or one who provides the goos is constrained to give good to you then you have to keep up with poor quality. So when government provides you with cheap education or health care or transport don't compare it with private sector so goes the argument.But there must be a minimum level defined otherwise it is completely at discretion of service provider as he can always take cover of this argument that he is providing things at discount or he is already suffering losses.
Other thing is even if they charge same as private secotr fellows or any one else are they really capable of providing same quality ?? Is not this just an argument to hide their own inefficiency.

Something similar has been brewing up here in my college , one of the finest educational institutes in country !!!
It's fun to watch idelaistic world being torn apart.
It is more fun to see when both sides not behaving ethically in their dealings demand other side to be ethical.
it is still more fun when they use arguments of "sentiment" and "professionalism" as & when suits them

Seeing is believing : reservation for disabled

I remember when I was in school some time then Supreme court passed a decision to reserve 3% seats in all educational institutes for physically handicapped students moreover it also asked them to bring ramps etc disabled friendly architecture in place. At that time I thoguht it was a colossal waste of public money in a nation like India but here at IIM when I see product of these policies young self confident individuals who chose farthest rooms in hostel and are beaming with enthusiasm I really salute foresighrness of those judges and that largely unknown petitioner.