Sunday, November 30, 2008

Cord Blood Banking in Korea

Medipos cell tree is offering a 15 year contract (which can be extended later on and they can transfer to a transplant doctor in your home country) for 1,3 million WON,you can choose to have a pram or 2 year+ car seat or a food dispenser as a free gift or no gift and pay 1,17 million WON. (Carseats and strollers are really expensive over here so that might be a very good deal depending on the product). They will send you an info brochure(English/Korean) and then the contract pack,they take about a month after the birth to see if they can bank the blood(test for viruses,stem cell count etc.) if it is not viable then you get a 100% refund.

There is 20% discount voucher you get with the banking contract on any Maclaren, Maxamec or Brittax product you buy from http://www.safian.co.kr

Also, if you book early (like as soon as you find out) there is a significant discount of 310,000 Won.

The number for Medipos is 080 264 9380.

There is a number for an English-speaking consultant. E-mail me if you want the #. You get an extra year if someone signs up based on your referral. I will not be banking, but my friend R will be and it would be great if you could say she referred you. I will give you her name as well when you e-mail me.

A commenter just mentioned Cha Hospital's I Cord, Cord Bank. She contacted the International Clinic in Cha Hospital - phone number is 02-34683127 and they said that basically there is no English brochure and all the forms are in Korean, but if you schedule an appointment with the International clinic they will translate for you.
The cost is about 1 million won and they can store it for 15 or 17 years.
They can transfer the cord blood to your home country (they ask where you're from) if you like.

Especially, if you are a foreigner and not planning to stay in Korea forever, you should check the prices for transferring to your home country. Keep in mind that the Korean bank and the home country bank will probably have fees involved.

3 comments:

lusik said...

Hi,

Do you have their website or any info about them?
I'm also looking for a cord blood bank in Seoul.
Did you check any other places?
From the internet I can see that there are few bank in Seoul but most of them don't have english sites or English speaking reps.
Did you check the Cha i-cord cord bank?

Thanks,
Olga

Mama Seoul said...

Olga,

My friend looked into this and has the contact info. She is supposed to send it to me and I will post it.

If you e-mail me at mamaseoul at gmail dot com, I can e-mail you directly when she sends it to me.

Rebecca R said...

Also the KB bank Go Mum card gives you a 10% discount so you pay W1,170 000 for the 15 year contract...