Kathmandu, Aug. 1 -- In a bid to address a growing demand for human breast milk from maternity and children's hospitals, the Ministry of Health and Food Safety is preparing to mobilise a van in the Kathmandu valley to collect breast milk from mothers with a surplus.

Officials say that a specialised mobile unit is dispatched by a human milk bank for safe transport, to visit donors at home and to transport fresh or frozen expressed breast milk under cold-chain storage conditions to the human milk bank run by the Paropakar Maternity and Women's Hospital, Thapathali.

"Demand for human milk for newborns is much higher than the collection," said Lila Bikram Thapa, chief of the Nutrition Section at the Family Welfare Division of the Department...