KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 26 – The National Lactation Centre, under the Ministry of Health (MOH), has awarded Columbia Asia Hospital – Petaling Jaya (CAH-PJ) the Gold Plaque for its Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI).
Deputy health minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni presented the plaque to Columbia Asia Group CEO and managing director Dr Chan Boon Kheng at a recent ceremony.
“We are truly honored by this award,” said Dr Chan. “Undoubtedly, breastfeeding is the best and should be the exclusive source of nutrition for newborns.
“At CAH-PJ, we practise the National Breastfeeding Policy of Malaysia, which is communicated to all relevant staff and train them to be proficient in executing this policy.”
The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) was launched in 1991 by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF). To achieve BFHI accreditation, a hospital must demonstrate an exclusive breastfeeding rate of at least 75 per cent among postpartum mothers.
Other criteria that qualified CAH-PJ for the BFHI Gold Plaque include informing all pregnant women about the benefits of breastfeeding before they give birth, encouraging mothers to initiate breastfeeding within the first 30 minutes after delivery, and ensuring immediate skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby for at least one hour.
Additionally, CAH-PJ staff guide mothers on breastfeeding techniques and maintaining milk supply, ensure that newborns receive no food or drink other than breast milk, practise the ‘rooming-in’ concept where mothers and babies are placed in the same room instead of separated, and discourage the use of artificial pacifiers or dummies for breastfeeding infants.
Also present at the event were Rusidah Selamat, director of the MOH Nutrition Division and Dr Siti Maisarah Ahmad, head of the National Lactation Centre.
