COVID-19: Pregnant women go online to store stem cells in Dubai

Dubai: Dubai Health Authority’s (DHA) Dubai Cord Blood and Research Centre (DCRC) received 72 electronic registration requests from expecting mothers who want to store their cord blood stem cells.

The DHA introduced the electronic registration method last June to allow pregnant women to register online to store their cord blood stem cells for up to 30 years from the comfort of their homes.

After providing the requested information and meeting the needed criteria, the centre delivers the cord blood stem cells collection kit to the pregnant women.

This new method was launched to ease the registration process for pregnant women, so they don’t have to physically visit the centre to register, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This service will save pregnant women time and effort of physically visiting the centre to register.

To register, all what expecting mothers have to do is send an email with their contact details to DCRC on DCRC@dha.gov.ae. A dedicated team from the centre will then send the expected mothers all the requested documents they must sent. If they were found to be eligible after meeting all the criteria, they will be able to continue the registration to preserve their cord blood stem cells for up to 30 years.

After successfully registering, the centre will deliver the cord blood collection kit, so the expecting mother can take it with her when she goes to deliver in private hospitals. The medical team will then use it during delivery to collect the cord blood stem cells. If the expecting mother is delivering in a government hospital, the cord blood collection kits are available in Dubai and Latifa Hospitals.

DCRC has sent many cord blood units to international centres and has treated 20 cases who were suffering from diseases like leukaemia, thalassemia, autoimmune diseases and more, using stem cells stored at the centre.

The centre has stored more than 7,000 cord blood stem cells since its established in 2006.