Page 4765 - Week 13 - Thursday, 28 November 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
The findings of the investigation are set out in Feasibility of establishing a milk bank in the ACT. The report will be publicly available on the ACT Health website as well as being tabled today. The report found that most of Australia’s milk banks are housed within hospitals. These milk banks provide pasteurised breastmilk to a limited number of premature and underweight babies who meet the eligibility criteria for use of pasteurised donated breastmilk.
While there is clear evidence regarding the benefits of giving pasteurised breastmilk to vulnerable premature babies, there is not enough evidence at this time to suggest that the use of pasteurised breastmilk should be expanded to wider population groups.
Fresh, unprocessed breastmilk is not the same product as donor breastmilk provided by a milk bank, which is why every effort is made to provide mothers’ own milk to vulnerable babies where possible. This is because the pasteurisation process, while reducing the risk of infection, damages key immunological and nutritional components of the milk. In fact, as the nutritional properties of breastmilk change based on the age of the infant and the pasteurisation process changes milk composition, best practice recommends that donor milk is fortified with extra nutrients before being provided to premature babies.
While there are enough benefits retained in pasteurised breastmilk to protect against severe gut complications in vulnerable infants, we do not know the impact of pasteurised breastmilk in other babies, and until more is known the ACT government will only supply pasteurised donor milk to babies who are born premature and meet the specific eligibility criteria.
As the number of eligible babies is very small, the ACT does not need many litres of donor milk per year to be able to meet demand. This means that establishing a local milk bank service is not a financially viable option, given the low volumes of pasteurised donor milk that the ACT uses annually.
Through exploring the available options, the ACT Health Directorate has determined that the most feasible solution is to maintain current arrangements by sourcing pasteurised donor milk from an interstate milk bank. This will ensure that our very premature and vulnerable babies continue to receive the best possible care.
A significant driver of community demand for a milk bank has been not only about receiving breastmilk but also about providing local women with the opportunity to donate their excess breastmilk to babies in need. The ACT Health Directorate’s report shows that establishing a breastmilk collection process for local women may be a feasible option on top of maintaining current supply arrangements.
To this end I have asked the ACT Health Directorate and Canberra Health Services to continue to discuss opportunities for eligible women in the ACT region to donate their excess breastmilk through an established process that gives donors the peace of mind that the appropriate screening and processing will be undertaken. This may involve building a relationship with the Red Cross milk bank, which facilitates breastmilk collection in South Australia and New South Wales.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video