Stem cell banking now available for common Indian : Health

Chennai, Oct 26 - Anand Mani, a pathology test vendor, wanted to gift his unborn child something special and his heart was set on saving the baby's stem cells for a disease free future. But the process was expensive.

Mani's dream may not have come true but for a new EMI (equated monthly instalments) payment plan.

'I wanted to bank my child's stem cell. If I hadn't been able to do it for want of money I would have felt guilty lifelong,' Anand, now the father of a girl child, told IANS.

Stem cells are normally found in bone marrow and umbilical cords. They are the master cells responsible for producing all the mature cells in our blood and immune system. They form the white cells that fight infection, the red cells that carry oxygen, the platelets that promote clotting and the cells of our immune systems.

Stem cells can be used for the treatment of Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diabetes, leukaemia and 74 other diseases, which destroy the body's healthy cells.

The cost of harvesting, processing and storing stem cells is about Rs. 35,000 ($850) but this is too expensive for the common man.

That is why stem cell bank Cryobank International is now offering a first payment option of Rs. 8,500 ($200) to store cord cells. The remainder is collected as EMIs of Rs. 3,000 ($75) and the EMI period can be stretched to 11 months or even 21 years.

Such schemes have made it possible for people from low-income groups like Mani to access the path-breaking technology.

Pathologist Chaitanya V. Nerikar, chief executive of Cryobank International, told IANS that stem cell therapy was fast becoming an option for the common man in India.

'And it will become cost-effective as more people go for umbilical cord cell banking,' she said.

There are 150,000 blood cancer patients in India. 'Complete change of blood has been the standard treatment worldwide for leukaemia but in India this is still not easily available because there is no national registry for matching blood,' Nerikar said.

In the West, such registries are available online.