Ellen Kamman: How sad that another group of babies had to die because of klebsiella.

One would have thought the tragedy in Durban a few years ago would have been enough warning. It is starting to sound like the bus tragedies that keep happening. After every one, a politician announces it will "never happen again".

What this tragedy shows us, again, is how important it is for babies to receive breast milk (either their mother's own milk, or donor milk).

Breast milk has important anti-bacterial properties that are not found in formula. If you leave a bottle with formula to stand, the number of bacteria will grow rapidly, something not seen in breast milk.

Mothers should be taught how important it is to provide breast milk to their babies, and taught how to get their milk supply up.

Even HIV-positive mothers can feed their babies pasteurised breast milk.

If the mother's milk is not available, donor milk can be sourced from a milk bank (free of charge, as far as I am aware), but hospitals must put effort into obtaining this milk.

I suppose it is easier to give contaminated formula. Very sad indeed.