Its cost — about Rs75,000 to Rs1 lakh for preserving the stem cells for 21 years — is no longer a deterrent for even non-celeb young, educated city mums.
Sussanne Roshan, Farah Khan, Madhuri Dixit-Nene, Raveena Tandon, and several other celebrity mums have opted to bank the umbilical cord blood stem cells of their children.
Its cost — about Rs75,000 to Rs1 lakh for preserving the stem cells for 21 years — is no longer a deterrent for even non-celeb young, educated city mums when it comes to cord blood banking, say gynaecologists in Mumbai on Mother’s Day.
Gynaecologists are seeing a huge rise in demand for the procedure, which is viewed as insurance against about 80-odd disorders that might afflict a child in the future, including leukaemia, thalassaemia, sickle cell disease, and even degenerative diseases like arthritis, spinal cord injury, atherosclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, osteoarthritis, and osteoporosis.
Medical researchers are now exploring new uses for umbilical cord blood stem cells in treating diabetes, heart disease, and strokes as well.
“There is definitely an increase in the trend. Currently, the prohibitive factor is the cost, but once it goes down the demand will rise,” says Dr Nandita Palshetkar, consultant gynaecologist at Lilavati Hospital. All pregnant patients at her clinic are informed about cord blood banking. “And 70% of my patients go for it,” she says.
Coimbatore-based carpenter Senthil Kumar’s eight-year-old thalassaemic daughter Thamirabharuni owes her life to this miracle of science. Thamira’s parents opted to have another baby and saved his cord blood. Stem cells collected from the cord blood were then transplanted, which in turn, cured Thamira of her thalassaemia.
“A baby’s stem cells have a 25% probability of being a perfect match for a sibling. But it may not work in every case,” warns gynaecologist Dr Aarti Khandelwal.
Kandivli resident Anju Hemrajani (name changed), whose daughter was diagnosed with thalassaemia major, also opted for another baby in the hope that a stem-cell transplant might be possible.
“However, his tissues did not match hers. And so cord blood from my second delivery could not be used for my daughter’s treatment,” she says. “Nevertheless, I have opted to have my second baby’s cord blood preserved. Though it cost me a lakh of rupees, I think it is worth the money.”
“Every other day I read about scientists coming up with some new stem cell cure," says Sheetal Shetty, who is eight months pregnant and has signed up for cord blood banking. "That is why I think it is a good idea to preserve my cord blood when I have my baby.”
Cord blood banking is definitely becoming more popular. LifeCell International, India’s first umbilical cord blood stem cell bank, has preserved close to 25,000 samples from across the country, out of which 10,000 have come in the past year and a half alone.
“We expect another 10,000 in the coming financial year,” says Ravi Shankar, general manager, marketing, LifeCell. “The potential,” he says, “is huge.”
Companies even offer EMI plans, which, along with rising awareness, has resulted in a rise in demand, says Shankar.
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