What is our cord blood collection program?

Briefly summarized, as Singapore’s public cord blood bank, we obtain informed consent from women giving birth in Singapore who wish to donate their baby’s cord blood to our bank. The cord blood is collected, processed, tested, cryo-preserved and stored according to strict international, accreditation standards and guidelines, and is then made available to patients in need of a life saving stem cell transplant. Donation is voluntary, confidential and at no cost to the donor.

If you decide to donate your baby’s cord blood to the SCBB, here’s what happens:

You can either call us or ask your doctor to connect you to one of our hospital nurse co-ordinators. Our nurse co-ordinators will share with you more about our cord blood collection program and answer any questions you may have. She will also ask a few questions about your medical history. You will be asked to give a small blood sample that will likely be taken from your arm at delivery during a normal delivery routine procedure. All information and tests gathered for the purpose of donation is strictly confidential. If your delivery hospital has joined the SCBB in our mission, all of our informed consent forms and procedures will have been reviewed and approved by your hospital’s ethics committee or institutional review board. SCBB takes every precaution to ensure that any cord blood that is collected or banked for future patient use is done so in a manner that is safe, as well as ethically reviewed and supported.

Cord blood is NOT taken directly from your baby. Post-delivery, after the umbilical cord has been clamped and cut, cord blood is collected by your attending physician from that portion of the cord that remains attached to the placenta, not to your baby. It takes only a few minutes to collect the cord blood into a collection blood bag, and the process causes no pain, inconvenience or risk to you or your baby. Your delivery experience will not be affected in any way.