ANANTAPUR: In a quiet corner of the Government General Hospital in Anantapur, a remarkable movement of compassion is unfolding. Hundreds of mothers are extending their motherhood beyond their own children, donating breast milk to save newborns they may never meet.
Established a year ago, the Ananta Mothers’ Milk Bank has become a lifeline for premature babies, orphaned newborns, infants whose mothers are critically ill and those unable to receive breast milk. Behind every bottle of donated milk is a mother’s selfless act of kindness, giving fragile infants a second chance at life.
The milk bank was created with a simple but powerful objective: to collect excess breast milk from healthy lactating mothers, process it safely and provide it free of cost to babies who need it most.
Mothers with surplus milk after feeding their own babies, those who have lost a child after delivery, women with naturally high milk production and mothers in good health are encouraged to donate. Before accepting donations, the hospital conducts thorough health screenings, including tests for HIV, Hepatitis B and other infections, to ensure the milk is safe for newborns.
The donated milk is scientifically pasteurised, carefully stored in deep freezers and tested again before distribution. It is then provided to premature babies, infants weighing between 800 grams and 1.5 kilograms, twins whose mothers cannot produce enough milk, orphaned children and babies whose mothers cannot breastfeed due to illness.
The response from mothers has been overwhelming. Many women who learned about the initiative have voluntarily stepped forward to donate. For mothers unable to travel to the hospital, GGH Resident Medical Officer Dr Gujjala Hemalatha goes a step further. She often arranges for staff to travel to villages and collect donated milk from their homes, sometimes using her own vehicle.
As a result, the milk bank has maintained a steady supply. Over the past year, more than 600 litres of breast milk have been collected.
Among the donors is Bengaluru-based software professional Darshi Likhitha, who alone donated an extraordinary 45 litres of breast milk. Other contributors include Lavanya from Marutla village, Rehana from Guntakal, Kashmuna from Dharmavaram, Ayesha from Kakkalapalli Colony, Sarika from Anantapur and many others who have quietly become lifesavers for vulnerable infants.
For Lavanya, the experience has not been without challenges. Some people questioned whether she was being paid for her donations.
“It hurts when people ask if I am doing this for money,” she says. “Good deeds should be encouraged, not discouraged. There are very few things in this world that are pure and unadulterated, and a mother’s milk is one of them.” Since its inception, the milk bank has provided counselling on breast milk donation to more than 40,000 mothers. Over 5,000 women have come forward to donate, helping provide nourishment to more than 4,000 newborn babies.
What makes the initiative even more inspiring is that most donors come from ordinary middle-class families. They receive no financial compensation. Their reward is the knowledge that their milk is helping an infant survive and grow.
The idea for the milk bank was born from a heartbreaking experience nearly 15 years ago. Dr G Hemalatha recalls a case involving a woman from the Hindupur region who delivered twins but became critically ill and had to be shifted to Bengaluru for treatment. The newborns remained in Anantapur without access to their mother’s milk and eventually died.
Years later, a similar situation arose with that mother. This time, hospital staff collected breast milk from other mothers in the maternity ward and fed the babies, who survived and recovered. That experience planted a seed in Dr G Hemalatha’s mind.
“What if we had a dedicated breast milk bank?” she wondered. That question led to the establishment of the Ananta Mothers’ Milk Bank on April 8, 2025.
Today, the facility stands as a symbol of humanity, and collective motherhood. Every drop of milk donated here carries not just nutrition but hope, love and promise of life. In Anantapur, these women are not just mothers to their own children. They have become mothers to thousands.