With lack of awareness and spread of misinformation among the public about the use of umbilical cord blood cells and the process of banking it for future use, healthcare experts have stressed on the need for having better regulations so as to govern and control the private firms and companies involved in the cord blood banking.
“As there is no proper awareness on the umbilical cord blood banking among the public lot of private firms are attracting the people by their false claims and misleading advertisements. They are charging exorbitant rates from the public for storing and banking the umbilical cord blood. To contain and to put a tab on such private cord blood banks government should come out with more stringent regulatory standards so as to protect, the common public from getting fleeced by the private firms,” said Dr. Gayatri, a senior gynaecologists, returned from USA.
According to Dr. Priyanka, a post graduate research doctor from Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), the umbilical cord blood banking is an expensive affair and some of the private cord blood banking firms are taking it as an advantage and charging exorbitant rates. “Some of the private banks in order to encourage and attract the people to avail their cord blood banking facilities, are resorting to false claims and most of them are indulging in giving misleading advertisement to attract the people. This is not correct. As the cord blood banking is slowly catching up with the public, it is high time the government should come out with more standard regulatory reforms to govern the private stem cell banking firms,” said Dr Priyanka.
Majority of medical practitioners and doctors who are in private firms involved in the cord blood cell banking are giving false and misleading information to the families and claiming that the cord blood cells can be used in the treatment for neuromuscular disorders and for cosmetic purposes, which is not at all true.
In fact, umbilical cord blood serves as a potent source of haematopoietic stem cells. It is used to treat various disorders such as blood cancers, haemoglobinopathies and immunodeficiency disorders, for which haematological stem cells transplantation is the standard of care. The claims that it can be used for any other purpose are false and baseless.
At present there is no clear information regarding what protocols are being followed by the private banks with regard to the banking and storage of umbilical cord blood cells and experts feel that there is a need for the government to come out with better regulations.