Dubai Health Authority organises training programme for cord blood collection

More than 100 nurses and healthcare professionals from the private and public sector hospitals attend training workshop.

United Arab Emirates, Dubai, 17 May, 2015:  The Dubai Health Authority(DHA) run Dubai Cord Blood and Research Centre (DCRC) recently organized a training programme for  medical professionals from government and private sector hospitals on collection methods and troubleshooting techniques for cord blood collection.

The DHA certified training programme, that was sponsored by Cytomed ,was conducted by Kim Petrella is a Labor & Delivery Nurse in the Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Christiana Hospital in America. Petrella has won numerous awards and regularly conducts training programmes to educate medical staff on the optimum method of cord blood collection.

Dr Kareema Salim Al Arrayed, the head of DCRC, said:Kareema Al Arrayed, head of the DCRC.Kareema Al Arrayed, head of the DCRC. “Collection of cord blood is a one-time opportunity and therefore intensive training is needed for the medical and nursing professionals to be aware on how to collect optimum amount of cord blood  and how to overcome challenges that may arise during cord blood collection. This is important to ensure that  we do not miss the opportunity as a consequence of poor collection techniques.” 

Fatma Al Hashimi, head of administration and  education at DCRC, said: “More than 80 diseases can be cured with the help of stem cells and this includes leukaemia, treatment of genetic disorders such as thalassemia etc. Collection is cord blood is a one-time opportunity at the time of delivery and to therefore training is essential to ensure optimal cord blood collection so that the stem cells can be stored and nowadays stem cells banks store them for up to 30 years.”

Al Hashimi said the training programme included presentations and hands-on practical demonstrations as well.

More than 100 nurses and medical professionals from the private and public sector hospitals attended the training workshop.