IDCBIS District Tissue Bank has the largest availability of skin in Latin America to care for burn patients.

Bogotá D. C., August 13, 2018. The District Tissue Bank of the District Institute of Science, Biotechnology and Innovation in Health -IDCBIS-, linked to the District Health Secretariat, has 70,000 cm² available to benefit the most vulnerable population that has suffered burns by flame, boiling liquid, acid and electricity.

Since its creation in 2009, the bank has distributed 310,500 cm2 of skin mainly to patients of the burn unit of the Simon Bolivar Hospital and the Santa Fe Foundation, institutions that are qualified to perform transplants with this tissue. Thus, the District Tissue Bank IDCBIS has become a reference bank for Latin America due to its high quality standards and good practice certification issued by INVIMA.

The skin that is processed at IDCBIS comes from cadaveric donor and is rescued through a dermatome (special machine), preserved in glycerol and kept at a temperature of 2 to 8 C°. The tissue extraction does not represent any esthetic alteration in the cadaveric donor, it is performed from the posterior face of the back and thighs.

Having a tissue bank with available skin allows an integral management of deep burns, where the skin itself cannot regenerate and needs a graft. The population that benefits most from skin grafts are children and people in productive stage.

The IDCBIS District Tissue Bank also processes and distributes other tissues such as cornea, sclera and amniotic membrane. In a few months IDCBIS will process osteomuscular tissue to serve the public and private network of the country.

We want to inform the public that the allocation of organs, cells and tissues is governed by clinical criteria and ethical standards established by the Ministry of Health and the National Institute of Health - INS. The allocation of tissues is transparent, equitable and justified, remuneration or any type of compensation, retribution for the donation or supply of an organ or tissue is prohibited.