All You Need To Know About A Public Cord Blood Bank

I am going to give you an overview of a public cord blood bank and its advantages as well as disadvantages. As you know, saving your umbilical cord blood is very useful in treating many blood and immune system related diseases, like leukemia and thalassemia. You can either decide to store it for yourself in a private cord blood bank or donate it to a public cord blood bank for anyone who needs it.

Public cord blood banks depend on public funding for their functioning. Some states have allocated special funds for cord blood banking to enable more public banks to operate.

Advantages

1. Donating your cord blood to a public bank ensures that cord blood is available for anyone who needs it. This is especially helpful for those people who don't have a matching donor in their own family, or those who need transplants immediately. They will not have to wait for a bone marrow donor who has to be a perfect match. They just need to contact a public bank where they can immediately avail of the blood stored there. It is not difficult to find a suitably matched, unrelated cord blood unit.
2. Cord blood donation is free of cost. You donate your cord blood to be used by the general public and not for yourself exclusively. Therefore, the bank owns your blood and not you, so you don't pay the bank for storing it. You don't need to pay any maintenance fees either.

Disadvantages

1. There are very few public cord blood banks available. This is due to the problem of inadequate funding. As these banks do not charge you to store your cord blood, they need to depend on public or state funding which is still not enough to meet their needs. You will first need to check with the local hospital if such a bank is available in your area before you can decide what to do with your cord blood.
2. In case you or anyone in your family needs a transplant, there is no guarantee that you will get your own donated cord blood back. You will have to settle for that of an unrelated and unknown donor. But if you store your cord blood in a private bank, it is saved exclusively for you and your family if required.
3. There are some public banks which sell your donated blood for medical research to make profits. Some banks inform you that your donation may be used either for treatment or research. But some banks don't inform you. So if you have donated your cord blood for the sole purpose of treating someone, it may not be used for that. There is no way for you to be certain that your donated blood is being used for the intended purpose.

You need to make a cord blood bank comparison before you can make a decision. If you wish to store your cord blood exclusively for your use then you can opt for a private bank. If you want to donate it to be used to treat someone or for medical research, then a public cord blood bank would be your best choice.