Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi will soon set up breastfeeding kiosks in the airport premises here – a move aimed at providing safe and comfortable travel experience to lactating mothers, airport officials said on Tuesday.
Similar breastfeeding kiosks are functioning at airports in Mumbai, Bangalore, New Delhi and Pune. Airport Director Vinod Sharma confirmed that he has received a proposal for the same and has approved it.
“We have received a proposal for setting up breastfeeding kiosks in Ranchi airport. The kiosks will adhere to the safety norms and provide a comfortable place to lactating mothers for breastfeeding their babies,” Sharma said.
The Birsa Munda Airport is fast growing in terms of connectivity with other cities. The largest airport in Jharkhand already has 30 flights connecting Ranchi to important cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The airport also has an international bay, but is yet to get any international flights.
The increasing passenger traffic in Ranchi demands for better facilities and the Airport Authority of India (AAI) is consistently working on finding new ways to enhance the travel experience of passengers, said airport officials.
The airport will take suggestions from hospitals and medical practitioners in order to make the kiosks suitable for breastfeeding.
Airport officials said that the kiosks will offer a comfortable seating position for the lactating mothers and have posters highlighting the benefits of breastfeeding. However, the project is still at an infancy stage and its completion may take time, sources said.
The Governments at the Centre as well as in State have been encouraging breastfeeding through various platforms lately. Recently, tourist destinations such as the Taj Mahal also got a new breastfeeding room. Besides, the Delhi Government has come up with a draft policy for setting up breastfeeding rooms at public places in the national capital.
Despite the Government’s awareness campaigns on the benefits of breastfeeding, only seven per cent women in Jharkhand breastfeed babies in the age bracket of six months to 23 months, says the National Family and Health Survey (NFHS) 4. Interestingly, the breastfeeding rate is 47 per cent for babies in the age bracket of six months to eight months.
Activists say that the fall in the rate of breastfeeding as the baby grows can be attributed to the lack of breastfeeding rooms in public places.
A baby in the age bracket of one to two months ideally needs to be breastfed seven to nine times in a day, say doctors.
The check in time at airports is often an hour before the flight and often passengers have to wait for several hours at airports in case of delay in flights.
The breastfeeding kiosks may come handy to lactating mothers while they wait for their flights at the airport, officials said.
