BAHAMAS · AMERICAS
Is there a bone marrow registry in the Bahamas?
For people who live in the Bahamas. Live somewhere else? Find your country.
As of , we haven’t found a bone marrow donor registry that people who live in the Bahamas can join. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one. The Bahamas’ Ministry of Health and Wellness reported its first live-donor kidney transplants at Princess Margaret Hospital in June 2025; we found no marrow donor drive in the Bahamas. 1
| Region | Caribbean, Latin America and the Caribbean, Americas 5 |
|---|---|
| Population | About 399,000 (2023) 6 |
| Registry | None found as of 4 |
| World donor search | No organization based in the Bahamas lists adult donors or cord blood units in WMDA’s Search & Match (). 8 |
| Transplants | The Tribune reported in 2017 that a 12-year-old girl from New Providence with sickle cell anemia had a bone marrow transplant, with cells from her brother, at the Bone Marrow Centre of Holtz Children's Hospital in Miami, after her family settled a dispute with Colina Insurance over the $500,000 treatment. 9 10 |
| Where we looked | 4 places, in English |
| Checked | |
| Next check |
What we found in the Bahamas
No marrow donor registry or drive was found in the Bahamas. 1
| Where | Language | Finding | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| World Marrow Donor Association | English | On Oct 11, 2026, no organization based in the Bahamas was on WMDA’s member map or in its organization database. 4 7 | |
| Government of Saint Lucia — Ministry of Health, Wellness and Nutrition (GIS) | English | On Oct 11, 2026, a search found only blood drives in the Bahamas, from 2018 and 2022, and older regional notices from the Caribbean Bone Marrow Registry, such as its 2016 drive. 3 | |
| Ministry of Health and Wellness, The Bahamas | English | On Oct 11, 2026, the Ministry of Health and Wellness homepage’s transplant news was about kidney transplants at Princess Margaret Hospital, with nothing on marrow or stem cell donation. 1 | |
| Public Hospitals Authority, The Bahamas | English | Nothing to add |
We couldn’t open the website of Public Hospitals Authority, The Bahamas when we tried on Oct 11, 2026. That tells us nothing about whether it offers a way to join.
Are stem cell transplants done in the Bahamas?
Princess Margaret Hospital was set to do the first living-donor kidney transplant under the Public Hospitals Authority's new Renal Transplant Programme in Jun 2025, with surgeons from Trinidad and Barbados, and the Bahamas' 2025/26 budget gave a National Organ Transplant Programme $1.59 million, the Tribune reported. 13
Has the Bahamas announced a registry or a law?
In Apr 2013 Prime Minister Perry Christie introduced a bill to regulate stem cell studies and treatments in the Bahamas, the Tribune reported, and in Apr 2024 health minister Dr Michael Darville introduced a Longevity and Regenerative Therapies Bill to replace that 2013 Act, Eye Witness News reported. 14 15
Questions about the Bahamas
Can a hospital in the Bahamas search abroad for a donor?
In Jul and Aug 2013 the Tribune reported that Miami Children's Hospital had begun looking for a bone marrow donor for a five-year-old girl from the Bahamas whose leukemia had returned, but would not go ahead with the transplant until her family showed it had the $500,000 it cost. 11 12
Ricardo Treco, the Bahamas' consul general in Miami, said in Dec 2013 that 35 to 50 Bahamian children a year stay at the Ronald McDonald House at the University of Miami's Jackson hospital complex while they are treated, the Tribune reported. 16
About donating: Does it hurt?, How donation works and Recovery.
Know of a registry in the Bahamas?
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The link preview says: “No verified way to join yet. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one. Here’s what we checked.”
Official bodies
- Ministry of Health and Wellness, The Bahamas. Ministry of Health and Wellness | Latest News Public Notices. Checked
- Public Hospitals Authority, The Bahamas. PHA website. Tried ; we couldn’t open it
- Government of Saint Lucia — Ministry of Health, Wellness and Nutrition (GIS). Bone marrow donor drive. Updated Jun 15, 2016. Checked
Figures and lists
- World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA). Find your registry. Checked
- United Nations Statistics Division. Standard country or area codes for statistical use (M49): Overview (English table). Checked
- UN DESA Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024: Total population by sex (CSV). Checked
- WMDA (Share, Organisation data public access). Database. Checked
- WMDA. WMDA Total Number of Donors and Cord blood units. Checked
Other sources
- The Tribune. Girl denied insurance as she lay on hospital bed. Updated Mar 29, 2017.
- The Tribune. Row over insurance coverage ends as girl is treated. Updated May 18, 2017.
- The Tribune. Child needs $500,000 for a bone marrow transplant. Updated Jul 5, 2013.
- The Tribune. Five-year-old girl still needs money for transplant. Updated Aug 9, 2013.
- The Tribune. Dad donating Kidney to son in Bahamas' first living donor transplant. Updated Jun 18, 2025.
- The Tribune. Stem cell research moves one step closer. Updated Apr 11, 2013.
- Eye Witness News. Government moves to update stem cell research legislation. Updated Apr 18, 2024.
- The Tribune. Bahamian's battle with bone cancer. Updated Dec 27, 2013.
