Cord Blood Banking in Korea

On Mama Seoul's blog she talks a bit about cord blood banking in Korea. Keep in mind that the info is from 2008 and prices have gone up a bit. Now you're probably looking at about 1.5 mil to 2 mil to do cord blood banking.

Pros and Cons of Cord Blood Banking
There's lots and lots of info out there and I'm not going to re-hash it all. Do your research. It's a very hot topic and people are very opinionated about it. It's a relatively new process. Here's some info about the Top 3 places in the USA.

Some people say that it's worth it, others say it's not. Some say it can help with a variety of diseases. Some say that the cord cells are only viable for 10 years. Some say that it's more likely that you can use them for your other children rather than the child whose blood you banked.


Basic Info
Contacts are usually 10-20 years. **Make sure you pick a company who can do all the paperwork necessary to transport the cells back to your home country if necessary!** Also ask about fees. The company here as well as the company back home may charge you. Transporting cord blood back home is not an easy process to do alone since there are legal issues with transporting live cells. Make sure the company can help you out.

For those of you interested in delayed clamping, it is possible to do both cord blood banking and delayed cord clamping. Birth Anarchy has more info about it.

Cord Blood Banking Companies (if you know of any more, please let me know)

• Medipos Cell Tree: 080-264-9380

Hospitals that do Cord Blood Banking (they only do it if you give birth at their hospital)

• Cha General Hospital, I Cord, Cord Bank. 650-9 Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Telephone: : 02-3468-3000. International Clinic: 02-3468-2632 or 02-3468-3127

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