Pakistan’s Sindh province to stop breast milk banks, advises Islamic Ideology Council
ISLAMABAD: The Sindh Institute of Child Health and Neonatal (SICHN) announced this week that Pakistan’s first human milk bank, which was established earlier this month, has been suspended pending further instructions from the Islamic Ideology Council.
A human milk bank, breast milk bank, or human milk supply center is a service that collects, sorts, processes, pasteurizes, and distributes donated breast milk from lactating mothers who are not biologically related to the recipient infant. For women who cannot breastfeed or do not produce enough breast milk, pasteurized donor breast milk can be an effective feeding option.
Earlier this month, SICHN announced its collaboration with UNICEF to establish Pakistan’s first human milk bank facility, describing it as a “significant milestone in maternal health”.
“Due to the recent revised fatwa issued by Darul Uloom Karachi on June 16, 2024, we have been forced to discontinue the functioning of our human milk bank. This decision is in accordance with updated religious guidelines and reflects our ongoing commitment to operate within the framework of Islamic law,” SICHN said in a statement dated June 21.
“Going forward, we will seek further guidance on this issue from both Darul Uloom Karachi and the Islamic Ideology Council, a religious body that advises the government on the compatibility of laws with Islam,” the statement added.
SICHN said the milk bank was initially established after seeking and receiving a fatwa (religious authority) from Karachi’s Darul Uloom, “which provided the necessary religious approval to go ahead with the operation.”
“This fatwa was crucial in ensuring that our efforts are in harmony with Islamic teachings and providing reassurance to the community and stakeholders,” the institute said.
The fatwa states that a prerequisite for setting up milk banks is that Muslim children should only be fed milk from Muslim mothers.
Iran is currently thought to be the only country in the Islamic world with a network of milk banks. The practice is generally considered tricky in Islam, where the opposition centres on a doctrine called milk kinship, which says that when a woman gives milk to an unrelated baby, it forms a parent-child bond.
According to the doctrine, a clear distinction between adoptive relationships is necessary to avoid incestuous marriages between so-called milk brothers in the future. Since milk bank donors are usually anonymous and donations are often combined, the practice is rejected in most countries in the Islamic world.
