Whether those with strong views on public health care like the idea or not, the harvesting of umbilical-cord stem cells as private 'biological insurance' seems here to stay.
The three private storage banks in Hong Kong recently reported high growth rates, with more parents seeking to store cord blood in order to have serious illnesses treated later in life.
Patients requiring a stem cell transplant are given cells from one of three sources: bone marrow, circulating blood, or umbilical cord blood. The first two exist in healthy adults, but cord blood can only be harvested and stored at birth.
The Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service can collect cord blood from three public hospitals if requested. However, the cord blood is for general medical use, not the personal use of the mother and her child.
Private companies, however, offer a service whereby parents can have the cord-blood cells stored for 18 years, during which time further advances in medical science may be able to use the cells for new cures. The cord blood is collected after the umbilical cord is cut and the quantity depends on the size of the placenta and thickness of the umbilical cord, according to HealthBaby Biotech, one of the private cord-blood banks operating in Hong Kong.
'At the present time, cord-blood stem cells can be used to treat leukaemia, lymphoma and other blood disorders, but not inherited diseases,' says Cindy Wong, assistant marketing manager at HealthBaby Biotech. 'However, in future, there might be a breakthrough with cord-blood stem-cell applications.'
