The first public cord blood bank in India - an off-spring of the Rotary-sponsored Jeevan Blood Bank and Research Centre in Chennai - has been awarded 24,685 US Dollars in Matching Grants for the purchase of "equipment for harvesting stem cells from donated umbilical cord blood." The Jeevan Stem Cell Bank will give Indian children suffering from blood cancer and the blood disease Thalassemia "an equitable opportunity" for a cure, according to the announcement from the Rotary Club of Madras East , District 3230.
The application for the matching grant was submitted - by the RC Madras East , District 3230, in partnership with Rotary Club of Makati Ayala, District 3830 in the Philippines - with the Indian Rotary Foundation (RF-I) and the Rotary Foundation (TRF). The budget for the current stem cell project is 54,683.60 US Dollars.
The Indian government has permitted Jeevan to collect private support in the order of 10 million US Dollars. In order to mobilise contributions from outside India, a special website has been made. Private donations are eligible for 100 percent income tax exemption in India.
"This will help seeking contributions from the business community and the general public," Chairman and Managing Trustee, Dr. P. Srinivasan, who is a Co-founder of the blood bank and stem cell facility, tells GNBD.
He himself is a Rotarian and a member of RC Madras East.
The facilities are run by an independent Board of Trustees (six out of nine being Rotarians including three Past Presidents) and the programmes are supported by, among others the Rotary Clubs of Madras East and Madras Metro in District 3230.
The Jeevan Blood Bank and Research Centre, now including the Jeevan Stem Cell Bank, is a not-for-profit organization. The blood bank and research centre opened September 24, 1995 "with the vision of providing, on demand, safe blood and blood components collected from non-remunerated voluntary blood donors."
Over the past 14 years, the blood bank has collected over 85,000 blood donations and made available over 140,000 units of safe blood and blood components to the community.
The Stem Cell Bank began collecting cord units in early 2009. It was officially launched at an inauguration February 5.
A milestone of 100 cord blood units was crossed in August. "We are getting two-three cord blood donations for public banking every day," according to Medical Director Dr. Saranya Narayan, quoted by The Hindu . The hope is to have collected 1,000 public cord blood units by April 2010.
In order to find a match easily, however, the cord blood bank, will need an inventory of a minimum of 30,000 stem cell units over the next five years
10,000 children in India are born every year with Thalassemia. For many such patients, stem cell transplantation offers the only hope. The alternative is life long blood transfusions - or the risk of death.
"In a land of more than a billion people with over a million births a month, several thousand children are denied equitable opportunity to live like those who live in other countries. This is because of lack of a cord blood bank which can provide an access to them for matching stem cells for their treatment," Dr. P. Srinivasan says.
He is convinced that the Rotary-supported public Stem Cell Bank in Chennai will be an important part in changing that.
Cord blood contains stem cells, including hematopoietic cells, which can be used to treat hematopoietic and genetic disorders.
It is obtained from the umbilical cord at the time of childbirth, after the cord has been detached from the newborn.
"Stem cells - derived from umbilical cord - have proved to be the most effective therapeutic agent for blood cancers and a group of diseases like Thalassemia in children. The cure is close to 80 per cent," Dr. P. Srinivasan explains.
"Contrary to common perception, about 80 per cent of donations to the public banking have come from families belonging to the middle and upper class. They understand the value of public banking. And this is the proof. We ensure they are well informed that they would no longer have the right over their units once they are donated," Dr. Narayan told The Hindu.
About 80 per cent of the cord blood units have so far been coming through clinical referrals. "And these are from small, medium and big hospitals."
Writing in his club's newsletter, Eastern Bridge, the Co-founder of the blood bank and stem cell facility, Dr. P. Srinivasan, told his fellow Rotarians: "The only hope of cure for children with Blood Cancer and Thalassemia in India is matching sibling or unrelated stem cell transplant. In the absence of a bone marrow registry, a Public Cord Blood Bank becomes the only alternate option. With over 14,000 cord blood transplants across the world, the cure rate is getting close to 80 percent."
The special equipment comes from the Swiss company Biosafe and will help the Jeevan Stem Cell Bank "automating the whole process to enhance the quantity of stem cells harvested from donated cord blood and ensure the quality to international standards."
Editor's notes:
Thalassemia (thal-a-SE-me-ah) is the most common, inherited single gene disorder in the world being passed on from parents to children. The disease is particularly prevalent among Mediterranean people. Far from the Mediterranean, South Asians are also affected, with the world's highest concentration of carriers being in the Maldives (18 per cent of the population). Thalassemia affects both males and females. Severe forms usually are diagnosed in early childhood and are lifelong conditions. Patients with a severe form of Thalassemia may need regular blood transfusions.
Causes and symptoms can include:
- Stillbirth
- A child develops severe anaemia during the first year of life
- Bone deformities in the face
- Fatigue
- Growth failure
- Liver and spleen swelling
- Shortness of breath
- Yellow skin (jaundice)
- Small red blood cells (that can be seen under a microscope), but no symptoms.
Blood cancer: About three million Indians are diagnosed every year with cancer, between five per cent and ten per cent of them with blood cancers. Blood cancer (Leukaemia) is the types of cancer that affect blood, bone marrow, and lymph nodes.
Some financial figures:
- The Matching Grant award is in the amount of 160,195.00 Rupees.
(24,685 US Dollars). - The total cost of the current project is 2,570,129.00 Rupees (54,683.60 US Dollars).
- Permission was given by the Indian government for the stem cell project to seek support from the business community and the public for up to 47 million Rupees (10 million US Dollars).
- The approximate cost of processing each cord blood donation is 650 US Dollars.
- It is estimated that the cord blood project in Chennai will need more than 20 million US Dollars over three years.
Chennai, formerly known as Madras, is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The metropolitan area has an estimated population of more than eight million people.
Contact: Dr. P. Srinivasan, Chairman and Managing Trustee of the Jeevan Blood Bank and Research Centre, Jeevan Stem Cell Bank can be contacted at the e-mail address Srinivasan@jeevan.org or by phone: +91 44 28351200 / +91 44 28350300. The website has the address www.jeevan.org .
See Jeevan pictures under Photo Journals.
Comments regarding this article can be mailed to : editor@ourblooddrive.org
Previous article on the subjet, Rotarians in India move into the stem celle era, was posted at this website May 4, 2008.