Channelnewsasia.com
28 September 2005
Singapore's first public cord blood bank opens
By Julia Ng, Channel NewsAsia
SINGAPORE : Southeast Asia's first public cord blood bank of
international standards was officially opened at the KK
Women's and Children's Hospital on Wednesday.
The Singapore Cord Blood Bank hopes to save some 80
Singaporeans with blood diseases every year, as well as
patients from neighbouring countries.
Nine-year old Vanice was diagnosed with leukaemia last
February.
Her mother Jenny Chan had hoped that Vanice's baby brother's
cord blood could be a match for her stem cell transplant.
But it wasn't.
"We were disappointed. We were hoping for a match. But the
doctors had warned us that the chances were slim," said Jenny
Chan, Vanice's mother.
Vanice is not alone.
200 to 400 adults and children are diagnosed with fatal blood
diseases every year.
And each year, about 80 to 90 Singaporeans' needs for a cord
blood match are not met.
Luckily for Vanice, doctors found her a match in an Australian
public bank.
Vanice went through the stem cell transplantation and is now
well enough to return to school.
Singapore's first and only public cord blood bank, officially
opened by Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan, will be a beacon of
hope for patients with blood disorders and cancers.
The cord blood bank has already collected some 500 umbilical
cord blood units donated by mothers delivering babies at
public hospitals.
The bank hopes to include private hospitals by year's end and
build its store to up to 10,000 in three to five years. That
will offer patients an 80% chance of finding a good match.
Hospitals say 80% of mothers don't mind donating their babies'
umbilical cords.
But the rest may have plans to store theirs with private cord
blood banks. Some could not donate due to their religious
beliefs.
"We do keep the cord blood for our personal use in private
banks. But if we do have leukaemia that kind of illness, the
cord blood itself may not be the best match for them. That's
because genetically it has been defective already and you do
need to search for new match. That's why with a public bank,
more people can benefit from it and it costs me nothing. I can
also help people who are really in need of a good match. We
can also have a wider cord blood pool," said Yang Shuyin, an
expectant mother who plans to donate her baby's umbilical cord
when she gives birth in November.
"For our religion, we need to bury our placenta. But for me, I
still bring home the placenta and bury it. The bank will only
take the blood, so it shouldn't be a problem," said Norazini
Noordin, a 23-year-old mother who is a donor despite family's
objections on religious grounds.
"Most of public cord blood banks worldwide tend to be
predominantly Caucasian. Their HLA profiles are very different
from ours. For our Singaporean patients, the Chinese may have
a 20% chance of finding a match of cord blood unit in an
international public cord blood bank. For Malay and Indian
patients, the chances are much lower, about 5% or lower than
that," said Dr Fidah Alsagoff, executive director of the
Singapore Cord Blood Bank.
"That's why we are setting up our own cord blood bank, and
focus on collecting cord blood units from our mothers who are
Chinese, Malay and Indians. Our real goal is to increase our
own Singaporeans' chance of getting a cord blood unit that
will match theirs if they should need it," said Dr Fidah
Alsagoff.
Not only will the Singapore Cord Blood Bank benefit the local
multi-racial population, it will also give hope to Asians
worldwide, where up to 80% of potential stem cell transplant
patients are unable to find a suitable match.
The bank will be internationally accredited by year's end and
will be joining the US National Bone Marrow Donor Programme.
This will link Singapore to a worldwide network of creditable
public cord blood banks, increasing the chance for a good
match, benefiting both Singaporeans and other Asians in the
region.
- CNA /ls
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