Human Milk Bank: how to donate and who can receive

It is the public bank of donated human milk, created by law in 2025 and placed inside the Department of Health. It works in two directions: mothers who donate without payment and after screening similar to blood donation, and babies who receive it with a medical prescription and the parents’ written consent. The least-known fact is that the law requires health plans to cover that supply as an essential health benefit in the cases it enumerates.

To donate: the law provides the Bank shall receive milk only by donation, that donor mothers shall receive no remuneration, and that every donor must comply with a rigorous analysis and screening protocol similar to that for blood donations, minimally including interviews, serological tests, the favourable recommendation of a licensed physician and any other scientific requirement the Department of Health establishes. To receive: a medical recommendation, prescription or order and the parents’ written informed consent are required. The law enumerates the pictures in which that prescription may issue: premature birth, gastrointestinal surgery, cardiovascular conditions, malabsorption or food intolerance, immunodeficiency, “or in any other clinical picture the physician deems meritorious under that profession’s standards.”

• To donate: to comply with the analysis and screening protocol that, at a minimum, includes interviews, serological tests and the favourable recommendation of a licensed physician.Verified against the official source
• To receive: a medical recommendation, prescription or order to that effect.Verified against the official source
• To receive: the parents’ written informed consent.Verified against the official source

• The parents’ written informed consent, which the law requires alongside the medical prescription for the patient to receive donated milk.

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   Step 1: The health plan must cover it

   It is the provision with the most practical consequence and here it is literally: “In the cases enumerated in Article 9 of this Act, health plans shall include in their medical coverage the supply of human milk to patients as recommended, prescribed or ordered by a physician as an essential health benefit.” An essential health benefit, not a courtesy.

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   Step 2: In which cases it is prescribed

   The list matters because it is what triggers coverage. The medical recommendation, prescription or order “may be issued in cases of premature birth, gastrointestinal surgery, cardiovascular conditions, malabsorption or food intolerance, immunodeficiency or in any other clinical picture the physician deems meritorious under that profession’s standards.” The last phrase leaves the door open to clinical judgement and is no minor detail.

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   Step 3: The parents’ written consent is also needed

   The law asks for both together, not one or the other: “Patients shall receive the donated food only where there is a medical recommendation, prescription or order to that effect and the parents’ written informed consent.”

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   Step 4: Neonatal units first

   It is the distribution order and worth knowing before counting on donated milk for an ambulatory case. “In the first instance, the Bank shall distribute the processed human milk to neonatal intensive care units. Then, if its capacity and the amount of donations collected so permit, it may extend its services to patients continuing under ambulatory treatment.” The condition is part of the text.

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   Step 5: Donating is free, and donors are not paid

   The law says it in two short sentences: “The Bank shall receive human milk only by donation. Donor mothers shall receive no remuneration.” If someone offers you payment for human milk, it is not this Bank.

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   Step 6: The donor screening resembles blood donation

   The comparison is the law’s, not ours, and it helps in knowing what to expect. Every donor “must comply with a rigorous analysis and screening protocol similar to that instituted for blood donations, minimally including interviews, serological tests, the favourable recommendation of a licensed physician and any other scientific requirement established by the Department of Health; under the FDA and Human Milk Banking Association of North America guidelines.”

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   Step 7: Where it is set up first

   It helps in knowing where to look for it. As part of its initial implementation, the Bank “shall establish its operations, collection or distribution centres primarily in public or private hospitals having Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU), in accordance with what the Department of Health provides by regulation.” We publish no hospital list because the law carries none.

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   Step 8: Under what standards it is processed

   The law anchors quality in two external references and adds a periodic review. The processing and distribution guidelines “may take as a model the standards published by the Human Milk Banking Association of North America,” and “human milk must be processed in compliance with the parameters established by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for food preparation.” The policies, protocols, regulations and guidelines “shall be reviewed every two (2) years.”

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   Step 9: Who administers it and who promotes donation

   The Bank is attached to the Department of Health, and the law authorises the Secretary to sign collaboration agreements with non-profit organisations for its administration, with hospitals to receive donations and with laboratories to assess quality. The Secretary may appoint a director to run daily operations. And on promotion, the law names partners: the Department of Health, “together with organisations such as the Centro Integral de Lactancia, the Liga de la Leche de Puerto Rico, Maternidad Feliz, among others similar, shall promote, protect and support breastfeeding and human milk donation.”

The Bank is attached to the Department of Health and its collection or distribution centres are established primarily in hospitals, public or private, having a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. To receive the milk, the route is the physician’s prescription plus the parents’ written consent. To donate, the screening is coordinated by the Bank under the Department of Health’s protocol. If the health plan refuses in one of the cases the law enumerates, the coverage article is what to cite; our guide on medicines and services denied by the plan may serve as a starting point. If your matter is breastfeeding at work or the postpartum stay, those have their own guides here.

• Accepting that the plan does not cover donated milk: the law includes it as an essential health benefit in the cases it enumerates.
• Believing the prescription is enough: the law also asks for the parents’ written informed consent.
• Expecting payment for donating: the law says donor mothers shall receive no remuneration.
• Assuming it is received without a prescription: patients receive the donated food only where there is a medical recommendation, prescription or order.
• Taking ambulatory supply for granted: the law puts neonatal intensive care units first and conditions the rest on capacity and donations.
• Thinking the list of conditions is closed: the law adds “any other clinical picture the physician deems meritorious under that profession’s standards.”
• Looking for the Bank at any hospital: the law prioritises those with a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico

  Salud

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov