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Guyana’s first In vitro birth recorded at private hospital
By Sharmain Grainger
“If you can treat infertility you have more or less conquered everything,” said Administrator of the Dr. Balwant Singh Hospital, Dr. Madhu Singh, yesterday, as she announced the hospital’s first In vitro fertilization (IVF) birth.
Dr Madhu Singh cradles the IVF newborn
But although the hospital cannot profess to have fully conquered the procedure, it is certainly on its way to achieving this ambitious goal. The IVF birth at the East Street, Georgetown hospital represents an inaugural undertaking for Guyana.
The baby boy, who is less than a week old, is the first child born to a young couple who had been trying for eight years to conceive.
The In vitro procedure was undertaken entirely by Dr. Singh, who herself is an experienced Gynecologist, with an impressive history, functioning in both the public and private sectors.
Moreover, during a press conference at the hospital yesterday, she spoke with pride of the In vitro programme launched by the private hospital. She regarded it a success.
In fact Dr. Madhu, who claims to have a special interest in infertility, confidently informed that “if you don’t offer IVF you are really not offering very much.” She continued that “infertility remains one of the most difficult things to treat in Gynecology and Obstetrics…it is the last frontier for us.”
The IVF baby was born on September 16, last, and, according to Dr. Singh, both baby and mother are doing well and were discharged from the hospital two days later.
Although preparations were being made since last year, the IVF programme was officially introduced in January, Dr. Singh disclosed, as she explained the intricate procedure to media operatives yesterday.
“This is a highly complex procedure and needs a dedicated laboratory and theatre,” she related as she intimated that already 56 patients have been entered into the programme.
Setting up the laboratory for the IVF attracted a cost close to US$400,000, as according to Dr. Singh, equipment is very expensive, has to be sensitive, and be able to maintain ideal temperatures.
IVF is the treatment needed by couples that have tried simpler methods to conceive but failed. In fact, according to the Gynecologist, who required additional training as a Reproductive Medical Specialist before undertaking the procedure, IVF is a completely different field altogether from the Obstetrics and Gynecology. She therefore divulged yesterday that “it is the only option for patients using donor sperms or donor eggs, as well as those women who have severe uterine problems or have lost their uterus to surgery and wish to have a baby.”
Such women can use a surrogate to carry their baby, said Dr. Singh as she intimated that plans for the programme were five years in the making.
Ahead of the hospital’s offering of the procedure, persons were required to travel to Trinidad and Barbados, which according to Dr. Singh, entailed multiple visits, hotel expenses and other costly undertakings.
The state-of-the-art IVF laboratory at the Dr Balwant Singh Hospital
Currently the cost of having the programme done locally could amount to about US$8,000, which according to her, is due mostly to the high cost of medications.
“Medications are extremely expensive…some people may pay a little less, some people may pay a little more,” said the Gynecologist as she informed that the medications have to be tailored to individual patients.
Of the patients in the local programme “not all of these have had their embryos transferred due to medical reasons, but they have been vitrified and these patients will have a remote transfer,” Dr. Singh related.
Currently, the standard success rates with IVF worldwide are in the vicinity of 30 to 40 per cent depending on risk factors, but according to Dr. Singh “it’s a bit premature for us to be talking about success rates, because all of our embryos have not been transferred, however, they will be in the vicinity of international success rates.”
She disclosed that IVF has never and will never equal a 100 per cent success rate, as there are some limitations. Among the most important risk factors listed by Dr. Singh yesterday was that, of the ages of women, even as she encourages “all women to not postpone child-bearing beyond 35 years. Once you become 35 years or older your chances of conceiving, even with IVF, becomes much lower.” She therefore informed that since the level of fertility will decline at this stage, even with the administering of medications to produce eggs, the possibility of the baby growing inside the uterus will decline with age.
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