A blood sample databank under the China Marrow Donor Program (CMDP) was officially established Monday at Zhongguancun of Beijing.

The new databank is now the largest for Chinese people in the world, according to Hong Junling, deputy head of CMDP management center.

The databank includes information such as the names and gender of nearly one million donors and information about to which ethnic groups the donors come from, Hong said.

It also covers such medical information as blood types, gene types and health status of the donors.

The CMDP, launched in 2001 by the Red Cross Society of China, aims to help millions of Chinese with blood diseases.

But Hong said the blood sample databank could help genetic analysis for major diseases other than blood diseases.

The blood sample databank has collected 970,000 samples and provided more than 1,200 patients with haematogenous stem cells, including 50-odd cases from abroad, according to Hong.

The number of samples is expected to reach one million by 2010.

(Xinhua News Agency May 12, 2009)