In a human body, it is the stem cells that produce the blood cells that are required by a human body.

This means that they produce hundreds of thousands of blood cells every day of the human life.

Bone marrow is the part of the body that contains these stem cells. Although there are other sources of stem cells like hair follicles or fat etc, bone marrow is the best known and widely used as source of stem cells in stem cell transplants.

In recent times another source of stem cells has been found. It has been found that the cord blood, i.e. The blood in the umbilical cord of a baby after the baby’s birth has been found to contain some stem cells that can produce a good amount of blood cells.

It has also been found that the umbilical cord blood can be easily taken without harming the baby or the mother, stored for a long time in special containers in banking centers and can be retrieved and used when required.

Umbilical cord blood banking is becoming pretty famous and wide spread because of these reasons. Umbilical cord blood banking centers collect the cord blood after the baby’s birth, and test it for certain eligibility criteria – whether the amount is above a certain minimum limit, it is not infected etc.

Once the umbilical cord blood is found to be bankable, the banking center will then process it with certain special chemicals and will be stored in special contains at specific temperatures. The umbilical cord blood banking center will also “tissue type” the blood and include it in their database which can be accessed form many different places in case of a need for the cord blood arises.

These days umbilical cord blood banking centers are operated both by public enterprises as well as private ones. In case of the public enterprises, the donation is free of charge. The blood is checked, stored and is provided to any recipient in case of need.

In case of a private umbilical cord blood banking center, the donor can specify to hold the blood (by paying a fees) and use it in case of any specific requirement. This can be used for the particular person or in case of a family need.

Umbilical cord blood banking is here to stay and is gaining in popularity as more and more people are recognizing the use of the cord blood and more banking centers are also being opened.