Canada’s first national public blood bank for umbilical cord blood is set to begin taking donations.
On Monday, an Ottawa hospital became the first in Canada to accept umbilical cord blood donations for the National Public Cord Blood Bank.
Once the bank is fully up and running healthy pregnant women 18 years or older will be able to donate at collection hospitals in Ottawa, Brampton, Ont., Edmonton and Vancouver.
Dr. Clifford Librach says the launch of the public bank taking donations for use in non-family patients will spread the word about umbilical cord donations.
The National Public Cord Blood Bank will let the public donate instead of discard umbilical cords, which are a rich source of desperately needed stem cells.
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Canadian Blood Services said, approximately 1,000 Canadians are waiting for life-saving stem cell transplants to treat diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma or aplastic anemia.
While only mothers in Ottawa can donate to the blood bank, by mid-2014, people in Edmonton, Toronto and Vancouver will be able to donate.
Although it will be the first time mothers in Edmonton can donate to a public cord blood bank, it won’t be the first time donations would be open – John Akabutu created the Alberta Cord Blood Bank, and has been collecting donations of cord blood from across Canada since 1996, mostly funded through private donations.
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