Fitness And Sport Info

Archive for the ‘Cord Blood’ Category

These days, many parents are considering storing their newborn’s cord blood, so that it can be used at some later date. Cord blood of a child can be stored in two ways – in private banks or in public banks. Saving it in public banks means that the blood can be used by anyone who is in need. But in private banks, stored blood is accessible only to the family members. Looking at the costs associated with banking cord blood at private banks, parents take it as a waste of money. Let’s discuss the difference between storing cord blood at public banks and private banks.

Public cord-blood banking

Public umbilical cord blood banking organizations are often run by the government. They charge no fees for collecting and storing the child’s cord blood. Storing in public banks provide following benefits:
• Procedure is free of charge.
• Anybody can get stored cord blood when need arises.
The disadvantage of public institutions is that – donor might not be able to get matching cord blood when need arises. His or her own cord blood might have been already used by someone else.

Private cord blood banking

Private cord-blood banks are run by private organizations or individuals. These banks store a child’s cord blood on payment of processing and maintenance fees. Umbilical cord blood banking in private banks is encouraged because of the following reasons:

• An individual is able to get a perfect matched blood in case of any emergency situation arising out at some point of time.
• Private Banks make sure that no-one makes use of cord-blood of any donor without the permission of that donor (newborn’s parents).

The major disadvantage of private banks is high costs associated with cord blood storage.

Conclusion

These days, many private and public cord blood banks have been opening throughout the world. No one can say precisely whether private banks are more useful or public banks. However, it can be rightly said that for some parents, private banks are more useful and for others, public banks are more beneficial. It usually depends upon the affordability of parents whether they can afford to pay the high costs associated with private umbilical cord blood banking. Even family’s disease history also influences the decision of private bank or public bank. For instance – If family history shows any signs of disease that can only be treated with matching stem-cells transplantation, there is a need to store blood in private banks.