Need for infertility awareness assn

SURAT, Jan 25: Dr Nimish R Shelat, chairman, Reproductive Endocrinology Committee has called for setting up an Infertility Awareness Ass...

SURAT, Jan 25: Dr Nimish R Shelat, chairman, Reproductive Endocrinology Committee has called for setting up an Infertility Awareness Association8217; to educate the people on the real causes of infertility so that they are not cheated by quacks and do not fall into traps of myth and old rituals.

Welcoming Dr Rhohin Adrisinge, Senior Scientific Director of Queensland IVF Services, Australia, who was here to speak on Test-Tube Baby Technology8217;, Dr Shelat said in some parts of MP childless couple stole other8217;s child and sacrificed it in a goddess temple, believing that it would help them to produce a child.

People need to be educated about infertility, Dr Shelat said, adding that in the United States, Canada and some European countries, the Infertility Awareness Association were active for more than a decade. 8220;We need to set up such association in India too8221;, he suggested.

Punita Sharda, Chairperson of the Women8217;s Wing of the Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which has organised the lecture, assured Dr Shelat of complete support in forming such an association.

Talking to Express Newsline Dr Rohini said, 8220;I am happy that the outcome of today8217;s meeting is that women in Surat are going to set up an Infertility Awareness Association to help and support childless couple to share their worries.8221;

Some women participants asked questions related to the long-term effects of drugs used in IVF In Vitro Fertilization treatment. They also asked questions about the difference in a baby born through IVF technique and a normal baby.

Dr Endrisinghe, while admitting that the issue relating to donor8217;s pregnancy was different in Europe and in Asia, said while in Europe parents inform the child at the right time about their biological father and they allow the child to meet his biological father, the case was different in Asia where men did not accept their infertility and blamed women for not producing children. 8220;This is the real problem, which can be tackled through counselling. The couple has to be educated, 8221; she stressed.

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The success rate of the IVF treatment is high in young women, specially those in 20s and 30s. After 40 years of age, chances are slim, she added. 8220;Some patients cannot be treated. It is unfortunate but then we have to tell the patients. For such patients, adoption is the only option, 8221; said Dr Shelat.