Corporate social responsibility
PBKM, as a leader in the field of cord blood banking in Europe, is a socially responsible company. We feel that it is our obligation to help the neediest families who have suffered a serious illness. We enable and finance the donation of umbilical cord blood to a public bank and umbilical cord for the needs of experimental therapies from unrelated donors.
We also offer the Directed Donation Program.
The Directed Donation Program
A public cord blood bank is a place where you can donate cord blood if you don't want to have one for your family. The main goal is to increase the amount of cord blood stored in Poland, and thus increase access to treatment for those in need outside the family. The Ministry of Health has become PBKM's partner in this action. The operating costs of a public bank are covered by PBKM from its own resources.
As part of this initiative, PBKM allows the donation of umbilical cord blood at selected hospitals in Warsaw and conducts a nationwide Cord Blood Days campaign every year at selected hospitals throughout Poland.
Parents who decide to donate umbilical cord blood to a public bank make a beautiful gesture. They donate valuable stem cells that can save someone's life and health, but unlike family banking, they surrender their rights. This means that they do not bear the costs of obtaining and storing umbilical cord blood, but they give up the possibility of using it if the need arises in the future.
The Directed Donation Program
The program is open to families with a seriously ill child who want to harvest umbilical cord blood at the birth of another offspring and use it for treatment. The only costs incurred are the deposited material storage costs, when the blood is stored for more than a year.
How to join the Directed Donation Program?
Parents (or statutory guardians) provide PBKM with an excerpt from the medical history of the child, stating a diagnosis, or a certificate from the attending physician, stating that the child may be treated with stem cells. They also apply for joining the Umbilical Cord Blood Program. The above documents should be sent to PBKM’s address. After accepting the application, PBKM releases the Parents from a significant part of the fees (basic payment and costs of banking for less than one year ).