News Letter of Kiran Infertility Centre, Hyderabad, India- August 2012 Edition.

In our continuous endeavor to improve transparency with all our Patients including Intended Parents who have been successful with us, Intended Parents who have enrolled with us and who are in process of enrolling, In April 2012, we had decided to Publish Monthly News Letters and our first news letter was published. These letters are published monthly and are sent to all our Patients through e-mail, and are posted in our Face-book page. Accordingly we are happy to release the August Version.

According to Dr. Samit Sekhar- Chief Embryologist & Executive Director of KIC, "through this News Letters we intend to provide all the information about the latest happenings in the clinic and these letters will also serve as a medium for information of latest happenings in the field of IVF and Surrogacy.

Dr. Samit Sekhar further adds, "the main aim for publishing such news-letters is to work in a more transparent manner and to see that we are continuously in touch with all our Intended Parents of past and present, successful or unsuccessful.

This letter will introduce clients to various employees working with KIC, helping the parents realize their dream of having their own baby.
It will list out different kinds of initiatives being taken at our centre to continuously improvise and provide our clients with better services.

In this edition we have introduced our new Case Manager in Australia, Ms. Lydia, who will be helping the Intended Parents based in Australia. Also Mr. Felix Yang from Canada is the Parent of the month; you can find his interesting story from his childhood till him being a parent.

For Original article, click here >>

UK Consulate Opens in Hyderabad, India

Announcement about opening of UK Consulate in Hyderabad, this will make exit process of all Intended Parents from UK more convenient.

HYDERABAD, India – February 29th , 2012 — Sai Kiran Hospital, a unit of the Kiran Infertility Center Pvt. Ltd.(KIC) based in Hyderabad India. In our continuous endeavor to update all Intended Parents across the Globe with the latest happenings in field of International Surrogacy and Cross Border Medical Tourism we would like to update the Parents about the Latest Development in KIC and field of Immigration and Exit Visa Stamping Formalities.

We continuously try to update ourselves with the latest happening in the field of Surrogacy in all parameter's Medical or Non- Medical and intend to provide better service to clients by reverse integrating all the related Medical and Non Medical Services in one Loop. Hence we have designed a Surrogacy Package that meets all the needs of Intended Parents, the only thing our Intended Parents need to take care is about catching a flight and coming to Hyderabad Airport. After landing we ensure that our Patient is taken care of. We are continuously improvising at our end to make the journey of our Intended Parents to Parenthood smoother, safe, shorter, informative and more fascinating and thereby an unforgettable experience.

Also as a change in process! From now, Intended Parents from United Kingdom travelling to take their babies back to their Home Country hopefully will not require to visit New Delhi for processing of passports or travel documents for their New Born.

Until Now Intended Parents from United Kingdom had to travel to Delhi to visit the High Commission in New Delhi to process for Citizenship and Travel Document for their New Born baby/ babies.

United Kingdom has announced about opening of its consulate in Hyderabad on Thursday 31st May 2012 making it the only country to have a consulate in all southern states except Kerala.

For now, the consulate – to be headed by a deputy high commissioner - is expected to work out of a city hotel before it moves to a permanent address. The UK consulate would bring the city closer to realizing its London dream which has to otherwise route its visa applications through the consulate office in Chennai.

The consulate is set to place Hyderabad firmly on the global travel map, which the city has been figuring in over the last few years particularly after the international airport at Shamshabad came up. The city already has direct connectivity to UK with a daily British Airways flight to London. The flight reports more than 80% occupancy on most days, say official sources. Frequent flyers in the city hope that the consulate's presence in Hyderabad would connect city airport to more destinations in UK. Consulate offices often act as confidence boosters among travelers from their home nations, who feel comfortable visiting a city that has their consulate office. The consulate presence would also better people to people contact and an increased opportunity for state residents to avail of the various fellowships and scholarships of the UK government.

According to Dr. Samit Sekhar, Chief Embryologist and IVF & Surrogacy Program Director, Kiran Infertility Centre, this will be an added advantage to all the parents who will be travelling to our facility for pursuing various treatments for Infertility as hopefully they do no longer need to go to Delhi to procure Passports/ Travel Documents to their new-born, they will be able to get them processed here in Hyderabad and this will also help in reducing the time of stay for Parents Post Birth by approximately 3 to 4 days.

The address is as follows: 

British Deputy High Commission, Hyderabad
Room No. 150, 1st floor,
Taj Deccan Hotel,
Road No.1, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad 500034
Phone: +91-40-6666-9147/ 9148,
Emergency out of Hours number: +91-(0)11-2419-2100
Fax: +91-40-6666-9149
Website: http://ukinindia.fco.gov.uk
Office hours: 0830 - 1630 Monday to Thursday
0830 - 1330 Friday

Thinking about Fertility Treatment Dealing with infertility is a complicated journey of options and decisions.

Infertility Treatment has come a long way in the last 30 odd years ever since Louise Brown was born on 25 July 1978. Her parents, Lesley and John Brown, had been trying to conceive for nine years. They faced complications of blocked fallopian tubes and underwent what would later become known as IVF/in vitro fertilization, a technique developed by Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards. Edwards won 2010 Nobel Prize in Medicine for this work. Although the media refers to ivf as "test tube baby procedure", conception actually takes place in a Petri dish and this mainly involves working with human gametes which is a challenging job which very few people around the world are trained to do.

Infertility means not being able to get pregnant after one year of trying. Or, six months, if a woman is 35 or older. Women who can get pregnant but are unable to stay pregnant may also be infertile. According to various studies conducted across India 20%-30% couples face some kind of infertility related issues at some point of time in their lives.

Causes of Infertility in Women

1. Failure to Ovulate

a) Hormonal Problems

Failure to produce mature eggs: In approximately 50% of the cases of anovulation, the ovaries do not produce normal follicles in which the eggs can mature. Ovulation is rare if the eggs are immature and the chance of fertilization becomes almost nonexistent. Malfunction of the hypothalamus: The hypothalamus is the portion of the brain responsible for sending signals to the pituitary gland, which, in turn, sends hormonal stimuli to the ovaries in the form of FSH and LH to initiate egg maturation. If the hypothalamus fails to trigger and control this process, immature eggs will result. Malfunction of the pituitary gland: The pituitary's responsibility lies in producing and secreting FSH and LH. The ovaries will be unable to ovulate properly if either too much or too little of these substances is produced.

 b) Scarred Ovaries

Physical damage to the ovaries may result in failed ovulation. For example, extensive, invasive, or multiple surgeries, for repeated ovarian cysts may cause the capsule of the ovary to become damaged or scarred, such that follicles cannot mature properly and ovulation does not occur. Infection may also have this impact.

c) Premature Menopause

Some women cease menstruation and begin menopause before normal age. It is hypothesized that their natural supply of eggs has been depleted or that the majority of cases occur in extremely athletic women with a long history of low body weight and extensive exercise. There is also a genetic possibility for this condition.

d) Follicle Problems

Although currently unexplained, "unruptured follicle syndrome" occurs in women who produce a normal follicle, with an egg inside of it, every month yet the follicle fails to rupture.

 2. Causes of Poorly Functioning Fallopian Tubes

a. Blocked fallopian tubes Infection

Caused by both bacteria and viruses and usually transmitted sexually, these infections commonly cause inflammation resulting in scarring and damage. Genital Tuberculosis: It is one of the commonest chronic/long standing infections which results in Blocked fallopian tubes and is often overlooked.

b. Abdominal Diseases

The most common of these are appendicitis and colitis, causing inflammation of the abdominal cavity which can affect the fallopian tubes and lead to scarring and blockage.

c. Previous Surgeries

This is an important cause of tubal disease and damage. Pelvic or abdominal surgery can result in adhesions that alter the tubes in such a way that eggs cannot travel through them.

d. Ectopic Pregnancy

This is a pregnancy that occurs in the tube itself and, even if carefully and successfully overcome, may cause tubal damage and is a potentially life-threatening condition.

e. Congenital Defects

In rare cases, women may be born with tubal abnormalities, usually associated with uterus irregularities.

3. Endometriosis

This condition is characterized by excessive growth of the lining of the uterus, called the endometrium. Growth occurs not only in the uterus but also elsewhere in the abdomen, such as in the fallopian tubes, ovaries and the pelvis. The symptoms often associated with endometriosis include heavy, painful and long menstrual periods, urinary urgency, rectal bleeding and premenstrual spotting. Sometimes, however, there are no symptoms at all, owing to the fact that there is no correlation between the extent of the disease and the severity of the symptoms.

4. Behavioral Factors

It is well-known that certain personal habits and lifestyle factors impact health; many of these same factors may limit a couple's ability to conceive. Diet & Exercise, Smoking and Alcohol are some of the major reasons.

5. Environmental and Occupational Factors

The ability to conceive may be affected by exposure to various toxins or chemicals in the workplace or the surrounding environment.

Causes of Infertility in Men Lifestyle

• Smoking - significantly decreases both sperm count and sperm cell motility.

• Chronic Alcohol abuse.

• Anabolic steroid use - causes testicular shrinkage and infertility.

• Overly intense exercise - produces high levels of adrenal steroid hormones which cause a testosterone deficiency resulting in infertility.

• Inadequate vitamin C and Zinc in the diet.

• Tight underwear--increases scrotal temperature which results in decreased sperm production.

• Exposure to environmental hazards and toxins such as pesticides, lead, paint, radiation, radioactive substances, mercury, benzene, boron, and heavy metals.

• Malnutrition and anemia.

• Excessive stress.

Hormonal

• Hyperprolactinemia: Elevated Prolactin-Greater elevations of the hormones may result in reduced sperm production, reduced libido and may result in impotence.

• Hypothyroidism: Low thyroid hormone levels may cause reduction of quality of semen, poor testicular function and may disturb libido. This may be caused due to a diet high in iodine.

• Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia: This condition occurs when the pituitary is suppressed by increased levels of adrenal androgens. Symptoms for this include low sperm count, an increased number of immature sperm cells, and low sperm cell motility.

• Hypogonadotropic Hypopituitarism: Low pituitary gland output of LH and FSH. This condition arrests sperm development and causes the progressive loss of germ cells from the testes and causes the seminiferous tubules and testosterone producing cells to deteriorate.

• Panhypopituitafism: Complete pituitary gland failure-This condition lowers growth hormone, thyroid-stimulating hormone, and LH and FSH levels. Symptoms include: lethargy, impotence, decreased libido, loss of secondary sex characteristics, and normal or undersized testicles.

Hormonal

• Variocoele: This is an enlargement of the internal spermatic veins that drain blood from the testicle to the abdomen (back to the heart) and are present in 15% of the general male population and 40% of infertile men.

• Damaged Sperm Ducts: Seven percent of infertile men cannot transport sperm from their testicles to out of their penis.

• Torsion: Is a common problem affecting fertility that is caused by a supportive tissue abnormality which allows the testes to twist inside the scrotum and is characterized by extreme swelling.

• Infection and Disease: Mumps, TB, Brucellosis, Gonorrhea, Typhoid, Influenza, Smallpox, and Syphilis can cause Testicular Atrophy.

• Klinefelter's Syndrome: Is a Genetic Condition in which each cell in the human body has an additional X chromosome--men with Klinefelter's Syndrome have one Y and two X chromosomes. Physical symptoms include peanut-sized testicles and enlarged breasts.

• Retrograde Ejaculation: Is a condition in which semen is ejaculated into the bladder rather than out through the urethra because the bladder sphincter does not close during ejaculation.

Assisted Reproductive technology/techniques

Intrauterine insemination (IUI) is an infertility treatment also called artificial insemination. This treatment is prescribed when there is a mild male factor infertility or when women have problems with their cervical mucus.

Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART):

The main concept here is of removing eggs from a woman's body and these eggs are then mixed with sperm of a male to make embryos. These embryos are then cultured for 2 to 5 days in specialized compartments called as Incubators and put back in the woman's uterus thereby resulting in a successful pregnancy. ART has helped many couples conceive which otherwise would not have been possible.

About the Doctor:

Dr. Pratima Grover is a consultant at the Kiran Infertility Centre, Hyderabad, India (KIC). She has trained in Reproductive Biology at the Cleveland Clinic, U.S.A., one of the top most Infertility Centre's across the globe. She is a Post Graduate in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

TREATMENT FOR INFERTILITY

Male Treatment Options

• Sexual Issues: In this case doctors help men deal with impotence or premature ejaculation through behavioral therapy and/or medicines.

• Antibiotics also are used to clear up infections affecting sperm count.

• Too few sperm: In such cases the main cause of the problem can be treated through surgery

• Sperm movement: Sometimes blockage in Man's System results in no Sperm in Semen.Surgery is one of the options to correct the problem.

• In vitro fertilization/intra cytoplasmic sperm injection are advanced techniques to help deal with poor sperm count and motility

Female Treatment Options

In women,physical problems can be corrected with the help of surgery.There are number of fertility medicines that are used to treat women with ovulation problems.It is very important to talk to doctor about the effects and side effects of these Medications.

For Original article, click here >>

India Based Infertility Clinic Announces Presence in US.

Sai Kiran Hospital, a unit of the Kiran Infertility Center (KIC) based in Hyderabad India is planning an informational meeting that will introduce their US Client Coordinator. The meeting will take place at the Empire Hotel in NY, NY on 12/10/2011. The agenda for this meeting will familiarize Intended Parents from the US on the option of surrogacy in India . This meeting will also see a congregation of more than 20 intended parents who have successfully accomplished their dreams of parenthood. This date marks the 4 year anniversary of KIC's presence in the field of international surrogacy with the 200th baby being born through surrogacy for clients. This meeting will be used as a platform for past, present and future clients to share their experience and learn more about the international surrogacy process with KIC.

KIC has a surrogacy program of international clientele of more than 500 intended parents from 21 different countries across the Globe. KIC has been the most successful Indian Facility providing this service for last 2 Years with the maximum number of births. KIC is committed to provide affordable services to clients with the latest trends in Infertility Treatment with our Team of Experts.

Dr. Kiran D. Sekhar is an eminent gynecologist and obstetrician. Under her leadership and guidance the clinic has helped more than thirty thousand couples achieve pregnancy. Dr. Naresh Sekhar , a male infertility specialist has more than 30 years experience and has furthered medical education in the field of infertility. Dr. Pratima has trained in the US at the Cleveland Clinic and manages day to day activities of obstetric and gynecological counseling and care of patients. Dr. Samit Sekhar is the clinic's Chief Embryologist and Director of the Supra Sperm bank. He is in charge of overall maintenance of the IVF lab, as well as being involved in day to day patient interaction and counseling.

The informational seminar taking place in December of this year is to clear the apprehensions about surrogacy in India and to introduce our newest team member based out of Seattle, WA. "We intend to build trust with our clients, especially those based in the US by having the presence of a US based case manager," said Dr. Samit Sekhar , Chief Embryologist at KIC.

Media Contact
A. Thomas
Kiran Infertility Center
(206) 788-6036
alexis@kiranivfgenetic.com

No Sex please, we are busy........!

Many affluent urban couples are choosing to make babies not in the bedroom but in the laboratory. Is Aldous Huxley's Brave New World finally here? Varuna Verma finds out.

Priya Shenoy had it all planned out. The 30-year-old Hyderabad-based doctor finished her post graduation in paediatrics a year ago. She planned to work for two years and then go abroad for higher studies. And she wanted her personal life to be in sync with her professional one.

"I wanted to have a baby one year before I started my doctoral studies," says Shenoy. She tried to conceive the natural way - but gave up in two months. "It was not suiting us," she recalls. Both Shenoy and her doctor husband work long hours. When they return home, they are too tired to tango. "We kept postponing it from one night to another. Soon the pressure started building," she says.

So Shenoy got technology to come to their aid. She opted for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment earlier this year, got pregnant in the first shot and is expecting a baby soon.

Like Shenoy, many working women in urban India are no longer making babies in the bedroom. Instead, they are opting for fertility treatment. "I get five women patients every month who want fertility treatment for lifestyle reasons, not medical ones," says Samit Shekhar, chief embryologist, Kiran Infertility Centre, Hyderabad. Most of these women are between 30 and 32 years of age, work long hours and rarely get to spend quality time with their spouse, he adds.

As young Indians increasingly live life on the fast lane, and the mouse seems to have replaced the spouse, fertility treatments are just what the doctor ordered for them, believes sociologist G. K. Karanth. "Urban society has become accomplishment- driven and people are living life in an accelerated mode. They want quick money, quick success and a quick baby," he says. Also, with increasing individualism, emotional intensity has reduced in relationships. "Making a baby in the bedroom or the laboratory is all the same thing," says Karanth.

Making a baby in the bedroom is a hit and miss affair and can take up to a year. Most women don't have that much time any more. Many of her patients have slotted a time for the baby, after which they want to get on with their jobs.

A patient, Shruti Mishra, who wanted an IVF because she had a few relaxed months at work. An IT professional, Mishra was waiting for a promotion. She had a few months to spare before the work pressure built up. So she wanted to have a baby quickly. Mishra opted for an IVF and became pregnant within a month.

Again, like Mishra who was touching 33, a lot of women delay pregnancy nowadays. When they finally decide to have a baby, they are in a hurry. They don't want to spend months trying to conceive normally.

It is a fact that technology scores over nature when it comes to the success rate for conceiving a baby. The success rate of conceiving naturally is seven per cent. Women have a fertile period of four days in a month. If they are traveling, working late hours or are under any stress, it gets wasted. On the other hand, there is a 50 per cent chance of conceiving through IVF and a 25 per cent chance through intrauterine insemination (IUI).

Last month, Suresh and Swati Gupta - a Mumbai-based pilot couple - approached a doctor for IVF treatment. Preliminary tests showed both were healthy and could conceive naturally. They were counseled to relax, take time out for each other and have a baby without technical support. But they turned down the suggestion. Both had hectic work schedules and did not meet often. They said they did not want to go through the psychological stress of trying to have a baby the normal way. Swati got an IVF done and is now pregnant.

And these artificial methods are not too expensive either. Intrauterine insemination, for instance, costs between Rs 5,000 and Rs 20,000. It is a 15-minute job. It needs no anaesthesia and no hospitalisation. The IUI procedure involves taking the semen from the man, washing it and placing it in the reproductive tract of a woman on the day she is ovulating. The IVF procedure is more expensive - one cycle of IVF costs about Rs 1.5 lakh. Increasing awareness and a high success rate have made IVF a popular treatment.

So are healthy, fertile women seeking artificial means to conceive even in the West? Perhaps not in as great numbers. It's easier to get an IVF treatment done in India. In the West, a woman cannot opt for IVF until she has tried to conceive naturally for one year.

Many career women are also freezing their fertility for later use. The procedure is called Oocyte Vitrification. "Women can freeze their eggs and use them later, when they decide to have a baby," explains Shekhar of Kiran Infertility Centre. Till five years ago, the procedure, which costs between Rs 80,000 and Rs 1 lakh, was only used to save the eggs of women undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. But now many healthy women are opting to freeze their eggs simply because they want to postpone pregnancy.

"I get half a dozen enquiries a week," says Shekhar. He recently performed the procedure on a 31-year-old ramp model, Shikha Iyer, who planned to have a baby five years later. "Iyer was in the prime of her career and didn't want a pregnancy to come in the way," recalls the embryologist.

As for those who do want a baby right away, work stress often stands in the way. In 2003, a study was conducted on the sexual habits of 1,920 software professional couples in Bangalore. It was found that 27 per cent of men and 18 per cent of women suffered from sluggish libidos. After a long day at work, many couples are not interested in sex.

If the patient is biologically able to conceive, she is counseled to take a break from work, do regular exercise, try relaxation techniques and spend time with her spouse, explaining that this will help her to conceive quickly and naturally.

But relaxing is no longer an easy thing to do for young couples. Most women say they can't afford to take time out to relax before they have a baby. For them, an IVF procedure is simply the more hassle-free option.

For Original article, click here >>

Outsourcing Pregnancy

Doree Shafrir has contributed to The New York Observer, The New Yorker, Slate, and The Awl, and is the co-author of Love, Mom. She is a former editor at Gawker. Her website is www.doreeshafrir.com.

Indian surrogacy is now a half-billion dollar industry. Doree Shafrir on why American couples-especially gay men-are having children abroad for less money and with fewer headaches.

Mike Griebe and Brad Fister had tried everything to have a child. They explored adoption. They researched what Griebe termed "a baby factory type deal," where you basically pay for a "ready-made baby." They went to agencies that promise to find babies in the United States. The Kentucky couple even paid $20,000 to a Virginia woman to be a surrogate, only to walk away when she insisted that if anything happened to Griebe, 38, and Fister, 30, that she would have rights to the baby.

"You get to see the whole process. I got to watch the embryos go in. Those are things you never get to see here. You follow them the whole way."

Then, one day, while watching Oprah, they heard about a relatively new way to have a child: using an Indian surrogate. But at first, Griebe and Fister didn't think an Indian surrogate would be an option. "We just dismissed it because when we searched it, we found that that clinic would only deal with traditional couples," says Griebe-meaning straight couples. After searching online, they came across the Web site for Kiran Infertility Center, which guides foreign couples through the process of hiring a surrogate mother in India.

After talking with Dr Samit, a prominent embryologist in India, "We felt very comfortable with him, unlike everybody else we had dealt with after that time," says Griebe.

The two decided to use Fister's sperm for the pregnancy, and so he flew to India. Fister met his surrogate who, he says, is married with two children and told him the money she's making from the surrogacy will go toward her children's education.

Fister says he was surprised at how open the clinic was. "The whole process was a lot more hands-on than it would be in the U.S.," he says. "You get to see the whole process. I got to watch the embryos go in. Those are things you never get to see here. You follow them the whole way." After one failed attempt and one miscarriage, their surrogate is now due in April. They get updates, including ultrasounds, via email.

"I flew to India and checked out all the clinics," he said, before finally settling on Kiran. Commercial surrogacy was legalized in India in 2002, and it is now estimated to be a $445 million business. Griebe and Fister say they've spent around $40,000 on the surrogacy process so far; $8,000 of that goes directly to the surrogate mother. That may seem high, but Griebe said that friends of theirs who are attempting to use an American surrogate "are two years into this and still no baby, not even a miscarriage, and they're already over $100,000. Every time they try, they have to pay."

Kiran Infertility Center is one of the few to specifically target gay couples. Homosexuality was only decriminalized in India in July; even though it was rarely prosecuted, it was still a social taboo until a few years ago, says Dr. Samit Sekhar, the embryologist at the Kiran Infertility Centre in Hyderabad. "For us, it doesn't make any difference," he says of the couple's sexual orientation. However, the surrogate "doesn't know if she's carrying for a gay couple or not." He said that Kiran has delivered 24 babies via surrogates, with around nine of those going to gay couples.

It's illegal for surrogates to be recruited directly by the hospital. Instead, they're found by a social worker at an NGO, according to embryologist Samit Sekhar. (When asked if it would be possible to interview one of the social workers, Sekhar said that they do not speak English.) "They do the initial counseling for us. Then after the basic counseling is completed and the screening is done, they bring them to the clinic. Then we do more screening from there," he says, including medical and psychological screening.

"A year ago, I would have said it was very difficult to recruit a surrogate," says Sekhar. "Now it is becoming much more open. They get a decent amount of money. They get free food, free boarding, and free clothes, and they are housed in a nice place" for 12 months.

Sekhar says that Kiran can house up to 50 surrogates at a time. "They stay at the clinic. The non-pregnant surrogates are housed in an apartment," he says. "There are two midwives who stay in the clinic 24 hours a day, who take care of food, clothing, medication and all that."

Of course, using Indian surrogates raises ethical issues. An article in a recent issue of the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics called into question some of the assertions by clinic operators and surrogacy agencies regarding the women who are surrogates. The practice of keeping the women at the clinic, ostensibly to oversee their health and welfare, can also be interpreted as keeping them held hostage, since they're not allowed to leave the grounds of the clinic. The surrogates are often poor and illiterate, raising questions about how much they understand about the contract they're signing-including what happens if they have health complications or have to terminate the pregnancy because of their own health concerns. There are also questions about what would happen if the parents decided they didn't want the baby.

But it's difficult for Westerners to understand the way that the money the surrogates get changes their lives-and how it would be nearly impossible for them to earn as much money in such a short amount of time doing anything else. An engineer would earn the same amount in the same amount of time. They are happy with the money. It opens up a lot of windows for them at the same time. They can now lead a comfortable life, according to Indian standards at least. They can invest the money in a business, buy a small property. They can send kids to school or college.

Fister plans on being in India for the baby's birth; he's anticipating that he'll have to stay there for about three weeks after the baby is born, during which time he'll submit to a DNA test to prove he's the father and get a birth certificate issued by the American Embassy. "People think you're doing it in India because it's less expensive," says Fister, "but the main reason we went to India is because of the legal issues. Here, there would always be the chance of the mother coming back and saying, I'd like to have visitation. Over there they can actually have it legalized."

Doree Shafrir has contributed to The New York Observer, The New Yorker, Slate, and The Awl, and is the co-author of Love, Mom. She is a former editor at Gawker. Her Web site is www.doreeshafrir.com.

For Original article, click here >>

Swanky airport puts Hyderabad on world's surrogacy map [Hyderabad]

HYDERABAD : When the swanky Rajiv Gandhi International airport came up in March, 2008 at Shamshabad, real estate wasn't the only sector that soared. Hyderabad's mid-sized health centres offering infertility treatment also surfaced on the world surrogacy map, with direct flights to the city being an enabling factor.

So, while commercial surrogacy was legalised in India in 2002, the surrogacy scene in Hyderabad started picking up only over the last two years, with many couples from across the globe landing in the city, seeking wombs. Until a couple of years ago, childless couples from abroad were heading either to Gujarat or India's two most connected cities - Delhi and Mumbai. The presence of embassies in the two major cities also helped.

But cases started spilling over to Hyderabad with packed infertility centres in Mumbai and Delhi unable to meet the growing demand, and the presence of a modern airport in Hyderabad helped the trend.

The surge in demand has largely been facilitated by agencies working in various parts of the globe showcasing India as the safest destination to rent a womb and get a child, at a reasonable price. Three reasons why people started looking east for surrogacy - top quality equipment, favorable pricing and hassle-free procedure, wherein the surrogate mother would not surface to claim the child. Most importantly, India is the only country apart from US where surrogacy is legal and unlike US, it's affordable too.

Cashing in on these factors are agencies that have come up not just in US and UK but also in Israel, Spain and Turkey that have contacted specialists in India. Among the agencies directing couples to Hyderabad include, Planet Hospital, which has tied up with city-based Kiran Infertility Centre and helps ironing out the creases that a journey to India may entail.

Among the first agencies to have come up was Planet Hospital that showcased India's medical tourism option to clients abroad. Their services are priced between $40,000 to $ 60,000 which includes air fare, hotel stay and the cost of the medical procedure including the surrogate mother's fee, which is in the range of Rs 3 to Rs 4 lakh.

While the widespread notion that India's surrogacy industry is worth $ 500 million, city doctors correct the figure stating that it is only about 10-20 per cent of that amount. About 500 people seek surrogates every year in the country and spend an average amount of $30,000, including medical cost, they explain. While Hyderabad may still not be the first choice of destination in most cases, it is picking up.

"Hyderabad has an international airport, so better connectivity. It has five star hotels and sight-seeing options, along with good doctors and good infertility centres," says Dr Samit Sekhar, embryologist with Kiran Infertility Centre.

The increasing numbers notwithstanding, doctors say it is not yet the boom period for surrogacy in Hyderabad. Dr Roya Rozati, who heads Maternal Health & Research Trust, says that finding surrogate mothers in Hyderabad is not as easy. "Our society is different from Gujarati society. We are still very conservative," she says.

Nevertheless, registered medical practitioners from surrounding city areas contact infertility specialists with details of potential surrogate mothers. Some women wanting to rent their wombs have also uploaded their profiles on the internet giving a brief description of their age, health, height and weight indicating they are fit to carry babies for couples

While these women, carrying babies of other couples, are taken care of by the hospital, a few now promote family surrogates. This, say observers, is to counter rights activists who believe the trend is turning women in India into baby factories. Clearly, an interesting chapter in the country's medical tourism story.

For Original article, click here >>