India’s Public Cord Blood Banking got a boost when Tamil Nadu government became the first in India to announce a grant of Rs. 9 Crores to Jeevan’s Public Cord Blood Bank.

Umbilical Cord Blood, discarded after childbirth, is one of the richest sources of blood forming stem cells and is being used across the world for over two decades for the treatment of blood cancers, Thalassemia and blood disorders.
Human Leucocyte Antigen (HLA) matching of the donor and the recipient is critical to the success of transplant of stem cells. Globally, HLA matching is dependent on the ethnicity of the patient and donor. In the absence of an Indian inventory, the chances of an Indian finding a match is less than 10% across the world. Even if lucky enough to find a match, it will cost the patient close to Rs. 20 lakhs to import the same.
This grant by the Government of Tamil Nadu is expected to pave the way for other state Governments to participate in creating a larger national inventory with adequate representation of all linguistic groups in India. This will help more Indians find a match and a hope for cure.
Jeevan will make available stem cells from donated umbilical cord blood for the treatment of blood disorders, subject to match, free of any cost to patients from Tamil Nadu including the employees of Government of Tamil Nadu and their dependents.
In 2011, Jeevan released the first stem cell unit for treatment of a 5 year old boy. On 14th November 2012, it launched real time search facility for HLA match at www. bethecure.in and in 2013 January Jeevan released the second unit of stem cells for transplant.
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Source-Medindia