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Date: | Mon, 16 Jul 2001 18:42:17 +0200 |
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Here, the procedure is like becoming a blood donor with some additional
tests and questions and restrictions.
I don't believe any Norwegian milk banks pool or pasteurize milk. It is
tested for bacteria content before being released for use. Mothers
supplying milk for their own babies are not tested and I don't believe their
milk is either, but I may be misinformed here. We assume that the milk made
by a mother will be fine for her baby.
Mothers are given a token sum of money for donating, and they are supplied
with a hospital grade electric pump for the duration of their time as a milk
donor, as long as they are giving more than some minimum amount, I think it
is one liter per week in my town right now. Babies are given banked milk as
needed. Since there are no hospital bills sent for inpatient care (none,
anywhere, in the public hospital system which encompasses ALL maternity
institutions and NICUs) there are no bills sent for human milk provided to
babies. I don't know that anyone outside a hospital is able to get banked
milk, but if they needed it I doubt they would have to pay out of pocket for
it. But since we have nearly as many milk producers as we have milk
consumers, this is not a large 'market'.
I also know that families sometimes make informal wet nurse arrangements. A
neighbor of mine supplied her nephew with many liters of breastmilk when he
was awaiting heart surgery and she had a baby the same age. The baby's
mother simply presented it at the hospital as her own milk, without going
into details about her own significant problems with supply. Not exactly
the correct route if you go by the bureaucracy, but no one ever knew and the
baby did fine. My neighbor did not get paid for this.
All inpatients get room and board covered as part of the terms of their
admission. Parents of hospitalized children must pay for meals, even if the
baby is breastfed and it is mother who is staying with baby. But this does
not exclude anyone from staying with a child. If a baby is getting food
other than breastmilk from its own mother, it is covered, including banked
donor milk.
The same is true of blood. Blood donors get to choose between a bath towel
or a small rucksack with the blood bank logo, for every unit they give. And
they are supplied with beverages while donating, and ferrous sulfate tablets
to take in between taps. No one pays for blood received. The costs are
part of the costs of running a universally accessible health service and we
all share them. But the attitude is that what it costs is not of interest
to the person needing the specific service.
Please note I am not advocating this as the best or only way to do things,
merely informing you of how it is done here.
Rachel Myr
Norway
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