As a pregnant woman, you have to take numerous decisions since you are going to start a new life by stepping into motherhood. Storage of your newly born baby’s cord blood is one of those. Well, we all are familiar with numerous advantages of banking cord blood. So, you should never take any chance for this. To store your newly born baby’s cord blood, you can either approach a public or private cord blood bank.

So, now you need to make the right choice between these two. You need to know both public and private cord blood banking have their own set of advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, you need to explore various facts about them, which help you make the right decision. Before we delve into the main differences between private and public banking, it’s crucial to understand the basics.

What is Public Cord Blood Bank?

Public cord blood bank, as the name suggests, is owned and run by both public and private agencies. The biggest benefit of approaching it for the storage of cord blood is you don’t need to pay any fee. This is the reason why it is the right option for those who don’t wish to spend money on it or are not able to afford the fee to store the cord blood of their babies.

Meanwhile, you will not get any guarantee that you will be able to get your baby’s cord blood whenever you require it. You should also pay a fee for the transfer of stem cells in case it is available.

What is a Private Cord Blood Bank?

Private cord blood bank, on the other hand, is fully funded by private bodies. With this bank, you can get the option to store your baby’s cord blood for yourself and also for your family members. It gives you a complete right to own your blood cell and can get it instantly whenever you need it. In other words, a private cord blood bank gives you complete access to the stem cells that you store.

What are the Main Differences Between Public and Private Cord Blood Bank?

We are going to explain here various points that will give you an in-depth idea about the actual differences between these two banks.

1. Collection

Private cord blood banks can collect your baby’s blood from anywhere no matter which location you are residing. They also ensure that there will be no harm to the baby or mother, while the collection process. The public bank also offers the same facility to collect blood from any location and also ensures there will be no harm to mother and child.

2. Intended Use

As far as use is concerned, cord blood has the potential to treat about 80 diseases, including lymphoma, leukemia, etc. Private banks ensure its immediate availability for clinical trials for the treatment of conditions such as cerebral palsy. The public cord blood bank also facilities cord blood to treat approximately 80 diseases and also for the research of cord blood. Meanwhile, such a bank doesn’t make cord blood accessible for clinical trials.

3. Rights

As mentioned above, a private cord blood bank gives families full right to get immediate availability of their stored cord blood to treat diseases or also can use of various clinical trials. But, if you choose a public bank to store your cord blood, you will not get any right to access it immediately. You will be able to access it only if it is available. This is the major discouraging factor for people and they finally approach the private bank.

4. Compatibility

With a private cord blood bank, you can indeed expect a higher percentage of the match. You get a surety to 100% match for your baby and also get 75% chances of matching for siblings, which indeed works effectively when it comes to minimizing the risk of post-transplant GVHD (Graft Versus Host Disease).

In the case of a public bank, it also gives surety of a perfect match. Meanwhile, GVHD tends to take place in various cases of transplants. In this, donor and recipient are not related in either way.

5. Preservation Cost

With private banking, you need to pay the preservation cost for your cord blood. And you will get multiple payment plans. But, public banking never charges any fee for the preservation of your cord blood.