The Centre has no plans to set up tissue banks in the country, the Health Ministry has said, adding that there are 14 approved umbilical cord blood banks operating in the country, all of them in the private sector.

Replying to a question by K Parasuraman (AIADMK) in the Lok Sabha last week, Minister of State for Health, Sripad Yesso Naik, said the Indian Council of Medical Research had set up a National Tumour Tissue Repository at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, in 2005.

Bio-specimens

“A total of 29,993 bio-specimens have been collected from 24,533 patients in the hospital till February 2015. A total of 2,004 bio-specimens have been disbursed to 41 projects along with clinical and follow-up data of 994 patients,” he added.

Speaking about the 14 approved cord blood banks, he said that four of them were in Gurgaon, set up by Cryobank International, Lifecell International, Unistemk Biosciences and Totipotent RX Cell Therapy.

Maharashtra has three of them, approved cord blood banks by Reliance Life Sciences, Ree Laboratories and Regenerative Medical Services.

Karnataka and Gujarat have two each by Narayana Hrudayalaya, Cryo Save (India) and Stemcyte India, Best Wellcare Management Services, respectively.

Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal have one cord blood bank each, set up by Lifecell International, PathCare Labs and Cord Life Sciences, respectively.

“Umbilical cord blood banks are regulated under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and Rules 1945,” the Minister said.

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