Procedure
Offices
For the parents service the offices of Biohellenika are open in Thessaloniki in ZEDA building daily from 9 am till 9 pm and on Saturday from 9 am till 4 pm. Also, an office at 137 Tsimiski street on the 6th floor, is open daily 5-9pm and the rest of the day if it is asked so. Tel 2310 474282-4
For the South Greece families’ service, offices of the company are open in Athens, Archelaou 28A Pagrati. Furthermore, for the service of the families who live in Thessaly offices are open in the central square of Larissa, 23 M. Alexandrou str., on the 6th floor, tel 2410-535603, office in Patras Kos and Panepistimiou 3, thl 2610437436, Iraklion Amalthias and Katexaki tel 6970803497. Ioannina Park of Technology, Ioannina tel 2651097667, 6970267540, 6949441906
Information
The parents can be informed for the provided service, the potentiality of its application and can discuss the need of the service use based on the medical history of the family. The information is given by responsible scientists of the company, or after an appointment, by a medical professor of the Medical School.
The parents, having an appointment, can also visit the labs of the company and have a tour by a special scientist.
Receipt of the collection package
The parents receive by our offices without any charge the bag for the collection of the umbilical cord blood (collection bag) as well as the documents accompanying it. The parents, having no obligation, receive the contract in order to study it.
The collection bag for the umbilical cord blood is followed by the strictest national specifications so that the quality of the sample is secured as long as it is transported.
The collection bag for the umbilical cord blood, the documents which accompany it and the contract may be delivered at home or they can be posted to you with company’s expenses.
Financial agreement and signing of the contract
The parents are to pay or to agree on the way they want to pay and to sign the contract only after the successful cryo-preservation and the fulfilling of the quality control.
The Biohellenika contract has been done to protect the children and the parents from any possible danger of the sample loss and it improves itself all the time for the clients’ benefit. Every improvement and additional right or ensuring concerns retroactively all the prior clients.
Biohellenika gives priority to the quality and the best service of its clients. For this reason it makes sure, as far as it is possible, to keep the price of the service affordable for the family. Taking that under consideration we have made agreements with banks, to make it easy for the parents to pay in full with 12 installments without interest.
The sample’s collection
Biohellenika has achieved the minimum collection time for the blood samples in Thessaloniki, Athens and Larisssa 1 hour and for the rest of Greece 7 hours. Biohellenika respecting the choice and the the parents to shield their children’s health has its labs in daily function during holidays and furthermore, in two rolling shifts.
In Thessaloniki, Athens, Patra, Larissa, Heraklio and Chania the collection bag is taken immediately from the obstetric clinics by a representative of our company. In other cities the company collects the bags, with its responsibility, from the drivers of the public transport means and informs the parents at once for the collection of the sample and the safe arrival to our labs. It is also parents’ choice the use of a specialized company. For the Aegean islands, the company is cooperating with two transportation companies which are specialized on the transportation of medical samples.
A study of the Scientific Team of Biohellenika which refers to the effect of the conditions and the time of the umbilical cord blood transportation from the obstetric clinic to the lab, concerning the viability of the stem cells, is about to be published in the international scientific Journal Transfusion, official Journal of the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB). In this publication it is proved that the within 12-hours cryo-preservation and until then the preservation stay at 4˚C, constitute the conditions which assure excellent viability of the stem cells.