The National Marrow Donor Program has officially recognized the National Cord Blood Bank at the Sheba Medical Center. At a meeting of the NMDP Membership Sub-committee on May 26, 2005 the Sheba National Cord Blood Bank was officially recognized as a member of the NMDP.

The NMDP is the largest organization of its kind in the world and nine million donors are listed in its donor registry. The NMDP functions under the auspices of the United States Congress and it is Congress that hands down decision regarding bone marrow and stem cell transplants from non-related donors.

Only one in four patients who need a bone marrow transplant will be able to locate a matched donor within the family circle. That means that the lives of the other three patients are dependant on locating a non-related matched donor for transplant. In most cases the search for a donor will be made in the Sheba National Cord Blood Bank donor registry. The NMDP has access to donor registers at fourteen cord blood banks in the USA, one in Taiwan (a branch of an American cord blood bank), and one bank in the EU, in Germany. Thus the Sheba National Cord Blood Bank is only the second in the European Community and the third outside of the USA to be accepted as a member of the NMDP, and this is a notable development.   

In order to be accepted as a NMDP member the Sheba National Cord Blood Bank had to meet the strict criteria and protocols of the NMDP, and demonstrate that it functions according to international guidelines and rules, and undergo investigation by the panel of NMDP experts who arrived here in Israel several months ago especially for the investigation.

It was only after the Sheba National Cord Blood Bank was found to have met all the strict NMDP membership criteria that membership was confirmed.

This is an unprecedented achievement for an Israeli medical institute. It will ensure that patients requiring stem cell bone marrow transplant will enjoy treatment according to the highest level of international standards