Govt hospital rejoices first IVF babies

In A first for a government hospital in the Capital, a set of twins was born through the In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) method on Monday. The girl and the boy were born at 8:30 a.m. in the paediatrics ward at Lok Nayak Hospital, reports Jaya Shroff Bhalla.

In A first for a government hospital in the Capital, a set of twins was born through the In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) method on Monday. The girl and the boy were born at 8:30 a.m. in the paediatrics ward at Lok Nayak Hospital.

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What made their birth special for the hospital was that these are first test tube babies born in the newly set up in vitriol meaning ‘in glass’ fertilization (IVF) clinic.

“Both the babies are healthy — the boy weighs 2.2 kilograms and girl weighs 2.08 kilograms. We had to carry out a caesarean section due to some unexpected complications in the mother. But all the three, mother and the babies, are looking healthy,” said Dr Sudha Prasad, professor at obstetrics and gynaecology department and IVF facility in charge at Lok Nayak Hospital.

“We are extremely happy that we could make it possible with minimum means in a government set up,” she said. There are 11 IVF pregnancy cases in the hospital at present.

“She had lost hope and had been running from pillar to post for help. She was a case of primary infertility who had been trying to conceive for the last 10 years,” said Dr Swaraj Batra, medical superintendent.

“We made the procedure possible in approximately Rs 40,000, which is indeed an achievement for the hospital. We are trying to provide the best facilities to our patients with minimal costs,” she said.

The woman could not conceive as both her fallopian tubes were damaged. Generally conception occurs when an egg cell (ovum) in a woman is released from an ovary, travels through the fallopian tube, and is fertilized by the man’s sperm. The fertilized egg continues to travel while it undergoes numerous cell divisions. It then rests in the uterus to grow.

In an IVF treatment, the egg and the sperm are fertilised outside the woman’s body before embedding it into the uterus.