Our sectors of activity
Héma-Québec's activities revolve around seven main sectors: blood products, stable products, stem cells, cord blood, human tissues, mother’s milk and specialized laboratory services. Find out more about each of them below.
Blood products
As the exclusive supplier of blood products in Québec, Héma‑Québec is responsible for recruiting donors and for collecting,testing, processing and delivering products to hospitals.
Stable products
Héma‑Québec is the exclusive distributor of stable products for Québec. It is responsible for supply strategies, the purchase of medications manufactured primarily from plasma, inventory management and product distribution to hospitals. It also looks after donor recruitment, collection and testing, and sending a part of the plasma it collects for fractionation.
Mother's milk
Héma‑Québec operates the Public Mothers’ Milk Bank for Québec. Its mandate is to provide pasteurized human milk to infants born preterm at 32 weeks’ gestation or earlier who require medical care and whose mother cannot breastfeed. The organization is responsible for donor recruitment and qualification, the processing and analysis of milk, as well as its distribution to hospitals.
Stem cells
Héma‑Québec is responsible for recruiting and qualifying donors, as well as managing the Stem Cell Donor Registry for Québec. This computerized registry contains the records of more than 60,000 enrolled individuals who have consented to donating if they are found to be compatible with a patient. Héma‑Québec’s Registry is certified as meeting the highest international standards and is part of the World Marrow Donor Association’s (WMDA) global network, thus benefitting from access to more than 40 million potential stem cell donors.
Cord blood
Umbilical cord blood is very rich in stem cells. The Public Cord Blood Bank (PCBB) provides access to a complementary source of stem cells, other than those from bone marrow or peripheral blood. Like Héma‑Québec’s registry of adult donors, the PCBB is an integral part of the international registry of the World Marrow Donor Association. It is the first operational public cord blood bank in Canada.
While Héma-Québec is responsible for donor registration and qualification, the collection itself is done in partner hospitals. Upon receipt of the collected cord blood, Héma-Québec processes, analyzes and cryopreserves, or banks the cord blood units. Cord blood is rich in stem cells that are particularly valuable in the treatment of over 80 diseases.
Human tissues
Héma‑Québec manages the Public Human Tissue Bank for Québec. It is responsible for collecting, processing, qualifying and distributing human tissues to meet the needs of hospitals. One of the team’s missions is to raise awareness among healthcare professionals of the importance of identifying and referring potential donors following their death.
On December 2, 2024, Héma-Québec will become the sole distributor of human tissues; a one-stop shop for all the needs of the Québec healthcare network. As of this date, Héma-Québec will assume exclusive responsibility for the supply and distribution of human tissues for the entire network, thus consolidating its role in the delivery of this range of biological products of human origin.
Specialized laboratory services
In addition to meeting the needs of the Québec population as a supplier of biological products of human origin, Héma‑Québec provides specialized laboratory services to its Québec healthcare system partners. In this role, it is recognized as a referral centre in the field of transfusion medicine.