There are three major factors to check out for before picking a bank for cord blood banking or registry.
Price
Private cord blood banks are NOT free. They charge somewhere around dollar 2,000 for collection. Then, there is a dollar 100 annual fee for storage of the sample. However, there are some banks that provide highly reduced rates, sometimes free storage, in cases where a child needs an immediate transplant. Contact various banks and know their prices. Each one has a price difference. Choose one that fits your budget. But, do not change your mind regarding saving your cord blood just because of the price factor. Life is more precious than dollars!
Location
Private banks are sprawled in every nook and corner of the country. Therefore, you should have no difficulty in finding one near your locality. Moreover, several hospitals are associated with private banks, especially the delivery centers. So, you can consult your doctor or midwife regarding this matter. Once you select a bank, its a good idea to have a discussion with its staff. They are competent professionals who can answer your questions and provide you with further information in this field.
Reputation
You have chosen your bank, but is it reputable. Your question can be answered by AABB, American Association of Blood Banks. This association keeps an eye on blood banks throughout the country, offering the certificate of accreditation to them just like that offered to universities. So, before you give your final nod, check out with the AABB about the accreditation of your bank and whether they are any complaints lodged against it by other donors or recipients. After all, you do not want to give your precious babys cord blood to just any bank down the corner, do you.
The most important thing to remember while choosing a private cord blood bank is to keep an open mind. Talk to your doctor about it; take an appointment with the banks trained staff. If there are people around you who have donated cord blood, then speak to them about it. You might dig out certain facts from their experience.
In short, do not jump into decisions blindly or in haste. Relax, research on the internet, and remember to consult people around you. Remember, you are about to take one of the major decisions of your life.
Private Cord Blood Bank
Private Vs. Public Cord Blood Banks
Cord blood banks are mainly of two types, i.e. public banks and Private Banks. Normally, public banks are set up to facilitate umbilical stem cell research for disease treatment and for utilization in transplants of non-relatives. If you decide to save your baby's cord blood at a public bank, they would not provide you the link between your baby and her blood unit. Therefore, in time of need, there is no guarantee that you will be able to access your babys blood unit. On the contrary, if you donate your baby's cord blood to a private bank, no one else is authorized to access and use that particular unit without your permission.
Public banks have been further categorized according to profit and non-profit objectives.
The Non Profit Public Bank
An estimate says that about 75 per cent of these banks across the globe are either public or private non-profit ones, which work for public interest. They save samples for transplant or research, and for family use, if a family has a known risk with a rare HLA group.
Remember, if you donate this blood to a non-profit bank, then the bank, and NOT YOU, are the owner of it. These banks store the blood for free and add them in the donor registry, which is accessed by doctors and researchers.
For Profit Public Bank
These banks save your samples for free, but make profit by selling the cord blood units for research. The selling of freely stored blood is legal in US, but illegal in several Asian and European nations.
Private Cord Blood Bank
A private bank is an independent unit and not owned by the state. As mentioned earlier, only you are entitled to access and use your cord blood sample. Such banks charge around $500 to $2,000 to store the sample. The charges vary with different private banks. Besides this, there is a maintenance fee or handling fee, which comes to around $100 annually.
Research Public Banks (RPBs)
These are another kind of banks, which were set up in the early 2000. The cord blood samples stored in such banks are not used for transplants, but only for research. The banks take your samples for free and use them in their own research or sell them to other researchers.
So, now that you are aware of the types of these banks, you can go for donations depending on whether you want to donate the sample for family use or simply help in research. Remember, if you do not like the idea of someone else using your babys stem cells, forget using public banks.
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