After the cord blood is collected by your attending physician, the collection bag is transferred to the SCBB processing laboratory that is located at the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital. This processing laboratory is a fully operational facility that has been licensed by the Ministry of Health and has completed and satisfactorilly-passed application for international accreditation.

The transfer of the cord blood from the collection bag into the processing bag, as well as the processing of the cord blood, occur within the SCBB processing laboratory which follows strict procedural international guidelines. The processing procedure ensures that the cord blood cells are safe and viable for future transplantation in patients who require them.

The cord blood unit is frozen in liquid nitrogen at –180 degrees Celsius in a special cryo-storage tank to “preserve” the cells. With present technology, cord blood cells can be stored indefinitely and have even been proven to be viable for potential transplant after being frozen for over 18 years.

When a patient needs blood stem cells, their doctor can search the SCBB cord blood unit database for a potential match. If a matched cord blood unit is found, it will then be prepared for shipment and sent to the transplant hospital as dictated by the patients transplant specialist or haematologist.