The Dubai Cord Blood and Research Centre (DCRC) revealed that around 8,000 cord blood units have been successfully stored since the Centre’s inception in 2006.

The Centre also revealed that 20 patients were treated using cord blood stem cells for Haemoglobinopathies that include Thalassaemia, sickle-cell anaemia, Fanconi’s anaemia and leukaemia. 

Dr. Hatim AlAbbas, Acting Director at DCRC stressed the importance of preserving cord blood stem cells as they can be used in stem-cell transplantation for the treatment of many disorders that include Leukaemia and Haemoglobinopathies. 

Those who wish to preserve their baby’s cord blood stem cells have to undergo various tests to determine whether the cord blood unit is acceptable or not, as the unit must meet the international standard to be used for transplantation, if needed in future.

The centre—which is the only government entity and is a hybrid public and private bank of cord blood - advocates the importance of family banking and public donation of cord blood stem cells.  The latter to help form a substantial registry of diverse ethnicities for the UAE, for the stem cells not to be wasted when they can be used to save lives.

Dr. AlAbbas said that DCRC implements different awareness techniques— to raise awareness about its cord blood banking technology, cord blood laboratory services and histocompatibility laboratory services—through campaigns, workshops, and lectures. 

Dr AlAbbas revealed that DCRC has upgraded its HLA technology to high-resolution HLA Typing by the Next-Generation Sequencing technique to further ensure the provision of quality services of immaculate accuracy and precision. 

In addition to stem cell banking, the Centre also conducts molecular tissue compatibility matching tests as well as several other molecular markers for certain associated diseases.

Those interested can contact DHA on 800DHA (800342).