Wealthy Thai mothers embrace cord blood banking by depositing their new born babies’ blood in what is hoped to be a precautionary measure should their kids need stem cell transplants in future if they were to develop lethal blood-related complications like thalassemia and leukemia.

Health officials in Thailand said that such facilities are not available at present in their country. The Bangkok Post says that Dr Nisarat Kasatri of the Samitivej Hospital was able to see to it that 10 to 15 percent of Thai mothers had agreed to pay vast amounts to transfer and store their baby’s cord blood in Singapore.

The storage life of cord blood is up to 20 years, according to Steven Fang, head of Cygenics. This company offers cord blood storage facilities to Singaporean and Thai parents. Fang added that the company runs tests each year to ensure that the cells remain viable. Cord blood is usually collected at birth and remains the best source of a perfect genetic match should there be a need for regenerating damaged cells.

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