Going the Vicky donor way: Bhopal college boys look to become sperm donors

More and more college boys from the city are taking to donating their sperm as a means to earn some extra pocket money, say infertility specialists. The doctors say that they now get 5-7 calls every day with related enquiries.

More and more college boys from the city are taking to donating their sperm as a means to earn some extra pocket money, say infertility specialists. The doctors say that they now get 5-7 calls every day with related enquiries.

A donor can get paid Rs 2,000 or more every time for every donation, but it can also be as low as Rs 500-1,000, depending on the city. (Shutterstock/representative image)

“You can get paid Rs 2,000 or more every time you donate your sperm. But you can also get paid less -- Rs 1,000 or Rs 500, depending on the city you live in,” said an expert.

Most city doctors refer callers seeking to donate sperm to clinics in Mumbai and Delhi, since there is currently no sperm bank in Madhya Pradesh. In the banks, donated sperm is frozen for later use.

“90% of donors are college kids. Till about five years back, people preferred only donors from within their family, but not now. It’s no more a hush-hush topic and people talk openly about it,” says infertility specialist and gynecologist Dr Romika Kapoor.

The background researches, the blood tests and the HIV tests are done for over a period of 6 months to get a qualified donor. “

“The movie Vicky Donor started this trend and college-goers see easy and lucrative pocket money in the process. In metropolitan cities, single mothers and infertile couples seek sperm donors, but since MP is a conservative state, we only get requests from infertile couples,” Dr Kapoor adds.

Embryologist and child specialist Dr Randhir Singh says, “I get over 2000 such calls and emails in a year. I tell them where to donate in Mumbai and Delhi clinics.”

But, he adds, “I usually counsel college kids to not go through with this. Though a donor can be anyone with a good sperm count and between the ages of 21 and 45, but all good clinics prefer a married man with a healthy 3-year-old or older child. According to research, this ensures good fertility of the donor and reduces the probability of abnormalities in any infant who may be produced with the sperm.”

Sperm donation: The process

Family Background Check: A detailed interview about sexual behaviour of the donor is undertaken. This includes a check on his family background and the clinic seeks reasons on why the man is interested in sperm donation. Clinics often also require information related to health and genetics of three generations preceding the donor. The information is then evaluated.

Semen Analysis: The specimen semen is collected for analysis, which shows sperm count along with two other important factors -- sperm cell motility and normal sperm morphology.

Medical and Genetic Tests: A potential sperm donor must have clear results for HIV, Hepatitis B and C apart from several other tests. ABO-Rh factor blood typing is carried out, and genetic testing is done to check whether the sperm would be a potential carrier for cystic fibrosis.

The clinic or the sperm bank takes eight weeks to six months before giving a clearance certificate for sperm donation.