Tamil Nadu Government announced 9 cr Rupees Grant to Jeevan for Stem Cell Storage

The Government of Tamil Nadu on 30 April 2013 allotted a grant of 9 crore Rupees to the Public Cord Blood Bank established by the Jeevan Blood Bank and Research Centre in Chennai .

The grant was allotted to process and store about 3000 cord blood donations from Tamil Nadu. The allotted money is supposed to be disbursed in a span of over three years.

Advantage of the Grant

It will be a major boost to public cord blood banking in India; as the area can flourish only with government patronage.

It is important here to note that the Umbilical cord blood, which is discarded after childbirth, is one of the richest sources of blood forming stem cells and is being used across the world for over two decades for the treatment of blood cancers, Thalassemia and blood disorders.

But for this the HLA (Human Leucocyte Antigen) matching of the donor and the recipient is critical for the successful transplant of stem cells. It usually depends on the background of the patient and donor. In the nonappearance of an Indian inventory, the chances of an Indian finding a match is less than 10 per cent across the world.  If anyone is lucky enough to find a match elsewhere, it will cost the patient close to 20 lakh Rupees to import it.