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MUMBAI — On a recent afternoon, 27-year-old Ashwini Agarwal adjusted her sari as she emerged from the crowded outpatient department at the Lokmanya Tilak Hospital, a public facility that houses the oldest of India’s roughly 14 breast milk banks, established a quarter of a century ago.

She had just donated her breast milk to the bank, to be consumed by another patient’s newborn, a woman who would be unable to breastfeed her own child.

Mrs. Agarwal’s second child was delivered at the hospital four months ago through a caesarean operation, and for a few days after the birth, she was unable to breastfeed her own child. Her newborn was fed mother’s milk from the bank in the initial days.

“The doctors told me how important it was,” she said, expressing her relief that they had breast milk in house.

Her husband, who accompanied her to the appointment, was surprised.

“You mean it was another woman’s milk?” he asked. “Is that even safe?”

Dr. Armida Fernandez, 70, who helped to start the bank in 1989 and now runs her own nonprofit, said that the answer to this common reaction was simple. Read more…