Considering the expense that one has to incur, often parents-to be are caught into endless thought loops on what could be the best choice of cord blood banking. According to the, American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP), a family must consider private cord blood banking as the baby’s cord blood stem cell might turn out to be a better match for any sick member of the family, as compared to a non-family donor.

1. Best Umbilical Cord Blood Banking in
India, Stem cell preservation in India
Cord blood banking: Which
option is the best for you?

2. Ultimate Objective
 Do everything at the best of their
capacity to ensure that their child
never witnesses a health crisis. And
as most doctors and medical
researchers have already claimed,
that one of the ways of securing a
child’s future is by opting in for
umbilical cord blood banking.
 There are primarily two groups of
parents – one who privately bank
their child’s cord blood privately
and the others who donate the
same to a public bank. And if you
are in India and want to select
between private or public cord
blood banking, here’s what you
need to know.

3. Public Cord Blood Banking
 Given the Indian scenario, the
acute challenge in the field of
public cord blood banking is
locating and then storing
sample blood units that would
match the population and
ethnic diversity of the country.
 Hence, when there’s a need it
might appear to be very tough
to come across a donor that
would be the best match for a
child or an adult who needs to
do a cord blood cell transplant
to overcome a fatal disease.

4. Private cord blood banking
 With private cord blood banking
parents have the scope to store
their child’s cord blood for their
own use or be used by a family
member.
 However, what seems to be a
challenge here is the cost of
private cord blood banking. The
initial collection and the annual
storage charges is an expensive
amount. But the aspect of
ownership is what makes most
parents say yes to private cord
blood banking.

5. Why opt for private cord blood banking?
 Public cord blood banks are
collecting & storing the cord
blood derived stem cells only.
They do not process & store
cord tissue stem cells. The
main objective of storing the
cord blood stem cells are
because they have to sell it at
exorbitant price.
 They have a minimum
standard of stem cells they
have to store otherwise the
same would not be sold.

6. Why opt for private cord blood banking?
 Practically, a large portion of
cord blood collected is
discarded before processing.
But the ambiguity is that
conditions like Autism, Cerebral
Palsy does not need very high
quantity of stem cell count.
 Another option is double unit
transplant. So if the baby or
baby’s family members need
them same, they will be
deprived of their stem cells, if
the same is not at all processed.

7. Not every sample in feasible
 Matters related to public cord
blood banking get further
complicated by the collected
sample quality. There are
situations when most samples
have to be cancelled owing to
the insufficiency of stem cells.
 Sometimes parents are not
made aware of the fact that
every sample might not be
used.

8. Not every sample in feasible
 Also, parents should be made
aware, that just by storing
cord blood doesn’t mean
parents have locked the
“treatment” for their child,
siblings, family members or
even themselves. So, when
parents show interest in
public cord blood banking
these aspects should be
addressed to provide a
practical perspective.

9. Every sample is not viable
 The problem is further compounded
by the quality of the collected
samples – many samples may have to
be discarded if they do not contain
enough viable stem cells. “When
advising parents about stem cell
banking, many doctors do not
mention that each and every sample
may not be useful,” says Dr Pravin
Gadre, paediatrician. “Parents should
not think that storing the cord blood
automatically creates a ‘cure’ for their
child or his siblings, or even for
themselves. Not only can the sample
lack enough stem cells, the quality of
the blood may also be in question.
Sometimes, the cells are not a match
even for siblings.

10. References:
 https://www.cordlifeindia.com/blog/cord-blood-
banking-option-best/
 https://www.cordlifeindia.com/blog/public-vs-private-
which-cord-blood-bank-is-better/