Banking for public use (public banking) implies that cord blood units can be made available to any person in need of transplantation, if the required compatibility criteria are fulfilled. A cord blood bank in the public domain can function within a governmental agency, a private company, or even a charity.

The units that are currently stored in public banks in Greece are about 2,500, which is well below the minimum necessary of between 10,000 and 20,000 selected units to cover the needs of compatible transplants for the Greek population. Certainly a donated unit could be made available and, therefore, save the life of a patient that is not Greek,

although the probability is much less. The donation of an umbilical cord transplant can be a life-saving act.