More and more young professionals are finding the money to pay labs to preserve their baby's umbilical cord, as many Bollywood moms have done

Pune parents are opting for preservation of umbilical cord of their child

More and more young professionals are finding the money to pay labs to preserve their baby's umbilical cord, as many Bollywood moms have done

Kalyani Nagar resident Sheetal Nayak has one thing in common with Madhuri Dixit, Raveena Tandon and Suzanne Roshan. Like these celebrity mothers from B-town, Nayak has also paid a hefty fee to a private 'banker' to preserve her newborn's umbilical cord. All in the hope that stem cells from the stored cord will help Hiya, her month-old daughter, in case of a life-threatening disease in the future.

Techies drive trend
A sort of biological insurance, cord blood banking is a new concept that seems to have caught the fancy of Pune's new and soon-to-be moms, and IT professionals seem to be driving the trend.

It involves collection of a baby's umbilical cord, which is usually discarded after it is cut off on birth, by a lab.

The lab then stores the blood and tissue from the umbilical cord, as it can be used in the future to fight diseases such as leukaemia and thalassaemia, besides other complications.

"Though introduced three years ago, the market in Pune for this technology has begun to hot up only recently with the entry of big players. A lot of pregnant ladies are now showing interest," said city gynaecologist Dr Bharati Dhorepatil.

BabyCell, a unit of Reliance Life Sciences, started operations in the city towards the end of 2009, and has already built a strong network with local hospitals.

"When we started operations a few months ago, we got around 15-20 clients. Now we have already moved to 30-40 clients a month and project to get 100 clients per month by the end of this year," said Ananya Dasgupta, marketing manager, BabyCell Pune. "The market is really picking up here and being driven especially by couples in IT sector."

In Nayak's case, it was her husband Priten, a software professional, who decided they should go for the technology.

EMI option available
An expensive proposition at Rs 65,000 to Rs 75,000 for a 21-year storage facility, only upper class families could afford the technology in the past. But now companies offering the facility are giving EMI options, bringing their service within the reach of the middle class.

"We have introduced an EMI system and now even middle-class clients are opting for this," said Deepak Thakre, regional head of CryoBanks International, Pune. "If they can't pay at one go, they can pay Rs 2,500 a month for two years, or even less if the payment period is longer."

Thakre said that compared to the dismal five new clients per month in 2008, when the company had barely started operations, the figure is now up to 60 clients a month.

At Dr Sanjay Gupte's clinic, where more than three companies offer cord blood banking, he says that people have now on their own started asking for such facilities.

"People are aware of the potential of stem cells and don't mind spending a little extra for their children.

Currently, this can help against blood disorders, but the way research on it is growing, the potential of stem cells is endless. It is the most precious gift to give a child."