SINGAPORE : CordLife has opened Southeast Asia's largest cord blood bank in Singapore.
CNA 10 April 2008
Located at the Singapore Science Park, the new facility boasts bigger laboratories and features the latest technology dealing with cord blood processing and storage.
A cord blood bank is a facility which stores umbilical cord blood for future use.
As of April 2008, over 13,000 families have signed up with CordLife, which expects to give better service with its bigger labs.
The company has also launched its "CordLife Cares" programme to provide needy families the option of private cord blood banking and access to stem cells without the waiting time and high cost.
The programme is open to residents delivering their babies in Singapore, but they must first meet the selection criteria. "
(Firstly), a combined family income of not more than S$2,000, and secondly, the ability to demonstrate that there is a medical need," said Steven Fang, Group CEO, CordLife. - CNA /ls
Singapore are offering its citizen a facilities to store cord blood, the catch is ,only if you can afford it.
According to Wikipedia :
“Public cord blood banking is strongly supported by the medical community. However, private cord blood banking is generally not recommended unless there is a family history of specific genetic diseases. Private banking is unlawful in France and Italy, and opposed by the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies.”
I totally agreed with the law in France and Italy.
No doubt that cord blood are important and I think the Singapore government should set up a good public cord blood bank which will use to treat whoever who need it.
Rich or poor, all should benefit.
Instead our government are encouraging companies to set up private cord blood banking here.
No doubt is to earn money.
ColdLife is trying to convince themselves that they are doing some sort of community services by launching its “CordLift Cares” program to help the needy.
The catch is your whole family must earn less then $2000 and you still must show them you are sick.
So those familes who earn $2001 or $2500 per month you can go fly kites of you can PAY Cordlife to store your babies cord blood for you.
“CordLife offers different payment plans to better meet the needs of expectant parents:
One time payment of $1,400* upon registration. Annual storage fee of $250 (payable from 2nd year onwards)”
Yet another reason why the rich are living longer then the poor in Singapore. Sad.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Joke of the year nomination
SMRT bags top global awardWednesday • April 9, 2008
SINGAPOREANS may sometimes grumble about their train rides, but transport operator SMRT has been rated as one of the best in the world.
The transport service provider clinched the "Best Passenger Experience" award at the inaugural Metro Awards in Denmark earlier this month, beating out finalists such as Copenhagen Metro, Hong Kong's MTR and The Warsaw Metro.
They were judged on factors such as value for money, efficiency and reliability track record; additional facilities on stations and trains; ease of use; loyalty discounts; cleanliness and security; as well as their ability to deal with overcrowding.
SMRT was also a finalist in the "Best Metro" and "Best Metro Asia Pacific" categories.The awards were given out during an annual conference of the urban rail industry worldwide, which drew more than 400 delegates.
Said Metro Award director Mr Matthew Wallhead: "The judges were impressed at the great lengths that SMRT went to ensure that their train services are customer-friendly."
He added: "SMRT tipped the scores for almost all the criteria."
SMRT's latest accolade echoes the first nation-wide index on customer satisfaction released on Monday, where the transport provider scored 69.9, above the national score of 68.7. And, last month, it won the 'Most Customer-Friendly Transport' at the Land Transport Excellence Awards.
Just last week, the train operator lost its appeal against a $387,176 fine imposed for a seven-hour delay on Jan 21 that had affected some 57,000 commuters.
While the operator had highlighted the mitigating actions it had taken — such as free bus bridging services — the Land Transport Authority said these actions had already been considered in deciding on the penalty.
SINGAPOREANS may sometimes grumble about their train rides, but transport operator SMRT has been rated as one of the best in the world.
The transport service provider clinched the "Best Passenger Experience" award at the inaugural Metro Awards in Denmark earlier this month, beating out finalists such as Copenhagen Metro, Hong Kong's MTR and The Warsaw Metro.
They were judged on factors such as value for money, efficiency and reliability track record; additional facilities on stations and trains; ease of use; loyalty discounts; cleanliness and security; as well as their ability to deal with overcrowding.
SMRT was also a finalist in the "Best Metro" and "Best Metro Asia Pacific" categories.The awards were given out during an annual conference of the urban rail industry worldwide, which drew more than 400 delegates.
Said Metro Award director Mr Matthew Wallhead: "The judges were impressed at the great lengths that SMRT went to ensure that their train services are customer-friendly."
He added: "SMRT tipped the scores for almost all the criteria."
SMRT's latest accolade echoes the first nation-wide index on customer satisfaction released on Monday, where the transport provider scored 69.9, above the national score of 68.7. And, last month, it won the 'Most Customer-Friendly Transport' at the Land Transport Excellence Awards.
Just last week, the train operator lost its appeal against a $387,176 fine imposed for a seven-hour delay on Jan 21 that had affected some 57,000 commuters.
While the operator had highlighted the mitigating actions it had taken — such as free bus bridging services — the Land Transport Authority said these actions had already been considered in deciding on the penalty.
Yesterday it was reported that SMRT bags some top award for “Best Customer Experience”.
I shall nominate this for the joke of the year competition.
I would say 9/10 time when I take the trains these days, they are crowded, has long waiting time, quite often dirty and run down especially for the 1st generation train. So one will wonder how did dear SMRT won the award anyway?
Check out this statement:
“They were judged on factors such as value for money, efficiency and reliability track record; additional facilities on stations and trains; ease of use; loyalty discounts; cleanliness and security; as well as their ability to deal with overcrowding.”
1. Value for money? Remember it was making record profit from the citizen people!
2. Efficiency? How often you wait more the 8min for train during peak hour? And when the train finally came it was so full you have to wait for the next and even the next next one.
3. Reliability track record? I shall say nothing about countless train disruptions and the lousy way the handled it.
4. Additional facilites on stations and trains? Huh?
5. Loyalty discounts? Huh? Huh?
6. Cleanliness and security? Shall check out the condition of the trains these days and what security? Hiring a few man in vest checking you bags and having some jokers in red beret patrolling key stations in town clearly showed you it is for show only.
7.Ability to deal with overcrowding? Easy, just raise fair.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)