Three women felicitated for donating breast milk in Pune

The Shahir Hinge Lok Kala Prabodhini on Monday felicitated three women for donating their milk to Pune's human milk bank at Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, at an all-girls’ dahi handi programme organised by it.

The organisation wants to create awareness among women about the importance of donating breast milk for newborns, who cannot breastfeed due to various problems.

Explaining the concept behind felicitating mothers on Janmashtami, Shahira Rupali, organiser of the event and member of the Prabodhini told DNA, “Three women, Shriya, Anju and Ketki, were felicitated by Nivedita Ekbote, principal of Modern Institute of Business Management. They were invited because Lord Krishna was also brought up by his foster mother Yashoda and not by his biological mother.”

Along with the mothers, the counsellor and expert at the human milk bank, Dr Vishakha Haridas, was also felicitated.

Dr Haridas said, “Lactating mothers can donate their milk for newborns, who cannot breastfeed. The milk collected can be stored for a year if stored properly in a deep freezer.”

The all-girls’ dahi-handi, known as ‘Aapli Dahi Handi’ was held for the seventh consecutive year by the organisation and almost 30 girls in the age group of 10 and 15 years from Anath Hindu Mahila Ashram, Narayan Peth, participated in the event.

The programme took place at Kasba Peth’s Manik Chowk.
The organisation conducts such programmes every year only for girls so that girls can come together and break the handi like men.
“It has been seven years since our organisation is holding such programmes to support girl students from backward and below poverty line categories,” said Rupali.