Marcinkova: Cord Blood Was Exported to Dutch Physician's Private Address

Bratislava, 17 September (TASR) - Cord blood [which is collected from umbilical chords or placentas - ed. note] was exported from Slovakia to the private home of a doctor in the Netherlands, said opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) MP Vladimira Marcinkova (SaS) on Wednesday, citing a report by the Dutch health ministry's inspection authority. She added that the National Transplant Organisation (NTO) had the address to which the cord blood was exported at its disposal, and she criticised Slovakia's inspection bodies for carrying out only a formal check. As she said, they didn't find any shortcomings, even though these were obvious. Marcinkova noted that the Dutch inspection authorities confirmed her findings that donations of cord blood were actually exported to the Netherlands. "The export address was not a hospital or a transplant centre, but the private address of a doctor in Eindhoven," said Marcinkova, adding that the export application clearly indicated that the blood wasn't going to be delivered to an official institution. She said that cord blood was used to treat around 220 patients, mostly children with conditions such as autism, cerebral palsy or strokes. However, such treatment is not officially authorised anywhere in Europe. According to her, the blood units were not reported to the international register, where they should have been available to cancer patients worldwide. Instead, they were traded as donor material, which is banned in the European Union, she added. Although exports of donor cord blood have been stopped, blood donations across Slovak hospitals continue, as do exports of so-called autologous blood, which is collected for use by the same child later. "Now that donor blood exports have been banned, autologous blood is suddenly being exported in large quantities," she said. Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice-SD) responded by saying that he hasn't yet seen the inspection report from the Dutch authorities, but he's already discussed the case with Marcinkova. After he took up office, the then NTO director was dismissed, exports were banned, and the case is now being investigated by law-enforcement bodies. He added that he plans to present a reform in this respect later this year. jrg/df