• Home

UAE woman donates umbilical cord blood

DUBAI — Noura Abdel Aziz, a 37-year-old UAE national woman, is the first to donate umbilical cord blood to generate stem cells for her family’s future use at the newly-established Dubai Cord Blood and Research Centre that opened yesterday.

Giving hope to their future generation, a total of five UAE national women are among the pioneers at the DCRC which was inaugurated by Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Maktoum yesterday.

Speaking to Khaleej Times, Ahmed Hussain, father of the 10-day-old child whose blood from the umbilical cord has been kept for the future said: “I had heard about the procedure about two years ago on Sharjah TV. I knew this could help people if they suffered from cancer or other blood diseases, therefore, we thought it important to store the stem cells.”

He said the stem cells were not for his family particularly and could be given to any needy person in future. The baby, the fourth in the family, was born at Al Wasl Hospital 10 days ago where the painless procedure was carried out. No one from Hussain’s family is afflicted with any blood disorder.

“Till date, I know that the procedure is free of cost for UAE nationals and expats as well,” he said. “This is the first centre in the region and the response has been good,” added Shaikh Ahmed.

Located at Al Wasl Hospital, the centre has been established at a cost of Dh17.5 million.

Dr Asma Ibrahim Al Asad, Director and Laboratory Manager of DCRC, said the volunteers who had requested storage of the cells had done so for their own future.

“Donors have the choice of keeping the stem cells for their own use, or allowing others to benefit as well,” she said, adding that the storage capacity at the centre was above 1,000 blood units for the first year.

Qadi Saeed Muroshid, Director General of Dubai Department of Health and Medical Services (Dohms), said the project was designed to collect, process, test and store the umbilical cord blood cells that can be used for treatment and scientific research.

“The government will save money by using the extracted life saving stem cells instead of disposing them as medical waste,” he added.

After acquiring a minimum of 30 donations, DCRC can become a member of the International Blood Cord Registry and can ship matching cells to the needy the world over. In the second part of the development — expected in another two years — DCRC will mature into a transplant centre, thereby saving money spent on treatments abroad and benefitting the UAE government at the same time.

Dr Ali Redha, Director of Pathology Department, Dohms, said: “Recently, Dh750,000 was spent on a patient who had to be sent abroad for bone marrow transplant. With the opening of the transplant centre in the UAE, such huge costs can be slashed radically.”

DCRC offers hope to many patients under treatment for cancer, blood disorders, genetic diseases as well as life-threatening disorders. The treatment can be availed by both UAE nationals and expatriates at a cost that is yet to be decided.

The facility can be requested at any hospital in the UAE while the blood can be stored at room temperature for 36 hours. “By the end of this month, all nurses, midwives and gynaecologists in the country will be trained to carry out the procedure,” said Dr Asma.

The procedure

UMBILICAL cord blood is what remains in the placenta following birth. The blood is collected after delivery.

The collection process does not affect labour and no blood is taken from the baby while the procedure is absolutely painless.

Your physician or midwife will talk to you about saving your baby's blood cord at DCRC. You will have to sign a consent for donating. Information that identifies the donor and recipient are always kept confidential.