HANOI, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's first stem cell bank will be set up in southern Ho Chi Minh City by the end of April, local newspaper Vietnam News reported Tuesday.

    The bank, to be established by Vietnam's Mekophar Chemical Pharmaceutical Co. and Singapore's Cord Labs Co., will be able to store 3,600 samples of umbilical cords.

    The bank will receive samples from babies without infectious diseases like HIV and hepatitis B, and with normal blood index.

    Stem cells, unspecialized cells that can be developed into specific specialized cells, such as blood cells, would be used to treat skin diseases and injuries caused by burns and diabetes in the next one or two years, and cartilage, bone, nerve and heart diseases, and others gradually, said Phan Toan Thang, a Vietnamese scientist working for the Singaporean company.