India's first public cord blood repository - looking back and moving forward

Umbilical cord blood is an established source of stem cells useful for hematopoetic reconstitution. The first clinical transplantation in France by Eliane Gluckman in 1988 using HLA matched umbilical cord blood from a sibling on a 6-year-old boy with Fanconi's anemia is an example of a successful transplantation. So far, more than 8,000 patients worldwide have been treated for malignant and inherent blood disorders [1, 2]. Our cord blood repository (CBR) was established as the part of the Life Sciences initiative, almost 7 years ago. The cord blood program consisted of developing a good network of obstetricians and social workers, develop manpower in various aspects of the banking activity, develop methods of process and analysis and above all, increase the level of awareness among the medical, paramedical fraternity and the general public on the cord blood program. The present paper gives a detailed account of our experience as we set up the repository.