KARACHI, Nov 2: Two more hospitals of Karachi and a hospital of Mirpur Khas, on Saturday, were declared Baby-Friendly Hospitals under a program initiated by UNICEF.

With this the number of Baby-Friendly Hospitals in Karachi has risen to seven, and in the whole of Sindh to 53. The province of Sindh has taken the lead as only 18 hospitals in the Punjab, three in NWFP and two in Balochistan have been able to secure this status since 1992 when UNICEF launched the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI).

The three hospitals declared BFH are Saifee Hospital and Burhani Hospital in Karachi and St. Teresa Hospital in Mirpur Khas. The Mirpur Khas hospital will be reassessed after six months.

The other city hospitals already declared BFH include the Sobhraj Maternity Hospital, the Liaquat National Hospital and the Lyari Hospital,

The declaration ceremony was held at a local hotel where Mushtaque Ali Memon, provincial secretary of the population welfare department, awarded certificates and plaques to the medical directors and superintendents of the respective hospitals.

Prof Noorjehan Samad, former project director BFHI Sindh, was given an award of appreciation for her baseline work.

Addressing the ceremony, Mushtaque Memon said that the baby friendly initiative was a global movement for breast-feeding and Pakistan was one of the leading countries that had started the BFHI over a decade back.

He said the BFHI was also mother-friendly as it recognized the mother‘s right to make decisions based on full and accurate information about how to feed their babies. He said that training the healthcare staff in the lactation program was a central component of the strategy, according to which 357 training workshops had so far been held in the province since 1992. During this period 16075 healthcare personnel were imparted training; they included 8250 doctors, 7565 nurses and 260 lady health visitors and other paramedics.

He said that Sukkur, having a population of over three million people, was declared a breast-feeding city on August 6, 1998.

—PPI