TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO · AMERICAS
Is there a bone marrow registry in Trinidad and Tobago?
For people who live in Trinidad and Tobago. Live somewhere else? Find your country.
As of , we haven’t found a bone marrow donor registry that people who live in Trinidad and Tobago can join. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one. Trinidad and Tobago's National Blood Transfusion Service takes just over 20,000 blood donations a year, but the Ministry of Health's blood donation section offers no marrow donor sign-up. 1
| Place | Trinidad and Tobago (Trinidad & Tobago) 16 |
|---|---|
| Region | Caribbean, Latin America and the Caribbean, Americas 6 |
| Population | About 1.5 million (2023) 7 |
| Registry | None found as of 5 |
| World donor search | No organization based in Trinidad and Tobago lists adult donors or cord blood units in WMDA’s Search & Match (). 9 |
| Transplants | The Trinidad Express has reported children from Trinidad and Tobago going abroad for bone marrow transplants: in Nov 2013 the health minister assigned a specialist to arrange one in Colombia, and in Dec 2017 a five-year-old came home from a hospital in India after her seven-year-old brother donated. 11 12 |
| Where we looked | 8 places, in English |
| Checked | |
| Next check |
What we found in Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago’s health ministry covers blood donation, not marrow. 1
| Where | Language | Finding | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| World Marrow Donor Association | English | On Oct 11, 2026, no organization based in Trinidad and Tobago was on WMDA’s member map or in its organization database. 5 8 | |
| Ministry of Health, Trinidad and Tobago | English | On Oct 11, 2026, the blood donation section of Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of Health site and a 2025 speech at a walkathon for people with sickle cell disease and thalassemia said nothing about a marrow registry. 1 2 | |
| Web search | English | On Oct 11, 2026, a search for stem cell transplants in Trinidad and Tobago found only medical-tourism listings, which a bot check blocked, and no public program. 10 | |
| Trinidad Express | English | On Oct 16, 2026, a search of the Trinidad Express for 'bone marrow' returned 88 results: stories the paper published on patients' appeals for treatment abroad and on the Children's Life Fund, advertorial press releases, and nothing about a donor registry in Trinidad and Tobago. 15 | |
| Ministry of Health, Trinidad and Tobago | English | On Oct 16, 2026, the Children's Life Fund Authority's section of Trinidad and Tobago's Ministry of Health site described grants for children's treatment, run from the Wendy Fitzwilliam Paediatric Hospital at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, and said nothing about donor registration. 3 | |
3 more searches with nothing to add
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Are stem cell transplants done in Trinidad and Tobago?
Keith Wilson, a Trinidad-born hematologist who directs the South Wales Blood and Marrow Transplant Programme, told the Trinidad Express in Aug 2021 that he had once hoped to start a stem cell transplant unit in the Caribbean, but those plans never materialized. 14
Has Trinidad and Tobago announced a registry or a law?
Trinidad and Tobago amended its Children's Life Fund Act in 2025: the bill replaces the test of a life-threatening illness with a list of life-limiting ones, among them acute lymphoblastic leukemia and severe aplastic anemia, and the Trinidad Express reported that the list names inherited bone marrow failure syndromes. 3 4 13
Questions about Trinidad and Tobago
Can a hospital in Trinidad and Tobago search abroad for a donor?
Trinidad and Tobago's Children's Life Fund, in force since Dec 17, 2010, pays for specialist treatment that child citizens under 18 can't get at a local medical institution; the Trinidad Express reported in Dec 2017 that the fund had turned down one family's marrow transplant application as not life-threatening. 4 12
About donating: Does it hurt?, How donation works and Recovery.
Know of a registry in Trinidad and Tobago?
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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, Trinidad and Tobago. Blood Donation | Ministry of Health.
- Ministry of Health, Trinidad and Tobago. The Society for Inherited and Severe Blood Disorders Trinidad and Tobago Annual Walkathon (speech). 2025.
- Ministry of Health, Trinidad and Tobago. Children's Life Fund Authority. Checked
- Parliament of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The Children's Life Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2025: Information Brief No. 2 of 2025-2026. June 2025. Checked
Figures and lists
- World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA). Find your registry.
- United Nations Statistics Division. Standard country or area codes for statistical use (M49): Overview (English table).
- UN DESA Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024: Total population by sex (CSV).
- WMDA (Share, Organisation data public access). Database.
- WMDA. WMDA Total Number of Donors and Cord blood units.
Other sources
- Lyfboat. Bone Marrow Transplant Cost in Trinidad And Tobago - Best Hospitals & Packages.
- Trinidad Express. Fuad to help girl needing bone-marrow surgery. Updated Nov 12, 2013. Checked
- Trinidad Express. Thank you T&T...you saved this child. Updated Dec 14, 2017. Checked
- Trinidad Express. New Life Fund Bill aims to save more children. Updated Jun 13, 2025. Checked
- Trinidad Express. Covid-19 and the blood. Updated Aug 1, 2021. Checked
- Trinidad Express. Search results for 'bone marrow'. Checked
- Unicode CLDR. By-Type Chart: Locale Display Names:Territories (North America). Checked