Social acceptance of Test Tube Baby Technique still a challenge in India

By VISHAL SHARMA

AGRA, 27 Oct. Over 80 million people world over are affected by infertility but despite being available as a cure to infertility for almost 30 years, Test tube baby or In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) is still a long way from being socially approved in India due to the preconceived notions surrounding the technique.

Since the birth of Louise Brown, the first test tube baby in England in 1978, the technique has become highly refined with significant improvement in its success rates, but still, India lags far behind the developed countries with just over 20 thousand births to its credit.

While in the metropolitan cities, the infertile couples are increasingly seeking the help of the over 200 Test Tube Baby Centers in the country to realize their dream of building a family, the notions like the “naturalness” of babies born through this technique, combined with the prohibitive costs involved have kept the Indian middle-class away from adapting this technique, though being low priced compared to the developed countries, the Indian IVF centers have become a major attraction for foreign couples.

To make the people aware of the facts regarding this technique and to obliterate the misconceptions pertaining to IVF, Dr. Narendra Malhotra & Dr. Mrs. Jaideep Malhotra, renowned infertility specialists of India have sought to showcase over 400 “Test Tube” babies born at their Center on the ramp on Thursday on the lines of a similar grand baby-show held in Bourne Hall Infertility Clinic, London, showcasing 1000 test-tube babies.

Talking to "UNN" in a press meet held on Wednesday, Dr. Malhotra said that the term Test Tube Baby in itself is a misnomer as only the fertilization of the egg is done in artificial surroundings and after 48 hours; the developing embryo is implanted inside the womb of the mother. He accepted that the term test Tube Baby may have been helpful in publicizing this technique, but it has also given rise to several myths that continue to cloud this procedure.

Explaining his motives behind holding a “baby-show”, Dr. Malhotra said that more than 15% couples of India are suffering from either male or female infertility, but despite being around since 1978, In-Vitro Fertilization still hasn’t been accepted as a complete solution to infertility in India due to the misconceptions surrounding this technique and just about 20 thousand babies have been born in the country with this technique out of which the Agra center has contributed significantly by bringing over 400 babies in this world through IVF with 13 twins & 3 triplets.

He said that India offers the best conception rates for IVF, up to 35-40%, while the accepted rate the world over is 25%. These statistics, combined with the comparatively low overall expenditure involved have prompted couples from distant countries like United States and Canada to seek the help of Indian IVF centers, but it is a depressing scenario that the technique is still to carve out its niche as a cure for infertility in India as on the Indian economic scale, the treatment is still fairly expensive costing anywhere between 60 thousand upto 2 lacs based on the age of the receptive mother. He said that the maximum-recorded age of a mother in the Agra center has been 53 years, which is
far over the expected age of pregnancy.

Asked about the probabilities of birth defects in the babies born through IVF, Dr. Mrs. Jaideep Malhotra said that multiple pregnancies is probably the only problem associated with this technique, for which, a corrective procedure is being developed as multiple pregnancies result in premature deliveries, endangering the lives of both the mother & the child.

(UNITED NEWS NETWORK)