IVF cases double at Cama, lone govt hospital offering treatment

The hospital, which houses the city’s only government-run IVF facility, recorded 1,492 cases in 2024, including 418 new registrations and 1,074 follow-ups. The number rose to 2,827 in 2025, comprising 567 new registrations and 2,260 follow-ups

MUMBAI: The 140-year-old Cama and Albless Hospital, the city’s first and only women’s hospital, has recorded a sharp rise in patients seeking fertility treatment, with registrations at its government-run Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) clinic more than doubling from 1,492 in 2024 to 3,286 by September 11 this year. However, only 26 women have undergone IVF at the facility since it received a licence to perform the procedure in December 2025.

Mumbai, India - November 11, 2018: One of the spots attacked in 2008 Terror attack. Cama Hospital at CSMT in Mumbai, India, on Sunday, November 11, 2018. (Photo by Kunal Patil/Hindustan Times) (Kunal Patil/HT Photo)

The hospital, which houses the city’s only government-run IVF facility, recorded 1,492 cases in 2024, including 418 new registrations and 1,074 follow-ups. The number rose to 2,827 in 2025, comprising 567 new registrations and 2,260 follow-ups.

The surge has continued this year. Till September 11, 2026, the ART clinic had registered 3,286 cases — 515 new registrations and 2,771 follow-ups. The figure is already 459 higher than the total number recorded in the whole of 2025, even though the 2026 data covers only about eight-and-a-half months.

The clinic, which began functioning in April 2024, had recorded 379 consultations in its first five months. The consultations form part of the new registrations and are not an additional category over and above the total cases.

Six women have also had their embryos frozen at the hospital’s egg and sperm bank.

Medical superintendent Dr Tushar Palve said the number of registrations at the ART clinic reflects the broad range of fertility-related services and consultations offered by the facility, rather than just patients undergoing IVF.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many more who turn up at the hospital, who conceive normally even without going through the IVF process. So, when a patient initially turns up at the ART clinic, we first try to get their tests and see if medications work for them. There have been instances when many people have not even needed to go through the entire process,” said Dr Palve.

A large number of women also travel to Cama Hospital from the hinterland of Maharashtra for consultations and second opinions, following which they continue their treatment in their hometowns, Dr Palve said. Some patients who cannot stay in Mumbai for long travel to the hospital for surgical procedures such as laparoscopy and return to their hometowns for recovery.

The government facility has proved particularly significant for women from economically weaker sections, including those below the poverty line (BPL), who may otherwise struggle to afford private IVF treatment.

“Unlike, say, an IVF course of three cycles, which might cost about ₹6-8 lakh in a private facility, here families have to pay just about ₹30,000-40,000 for every cycle, costing them less than a lakh rupees for the entire course. Facilities like the egg and sperm bank are practically free, barely costing about a thousand-odd rupees for the registration process,” Dr Palve said.

The hospital has also recently upgraded the infrastructure of its gynaecology OPD, adding a uro-gynaecology wing with financial assistance from the Tata Trusts. It has also introduced online, paperless OPD registration with a QR-code-based digital payment system.