UK-based Bourn Hall Clinic, the pioneers of IVF technology in the world, today opened its clinic in Gurgaon in Haryana and announced the plans to set up 18-20 centres with an expected investment of 20-50 million dollars in four years.

Bourn Hall was set up by the two path-breaking medical experts who gifted mankind with the first test-tube baby in 1978.

“Our legacy is that we are the pioneers in the field and our founders are the fathers in IVF,” said Dr Peter Brinsden, global medical director of Bourn Hall. “Two years after gifting the first IVF baby named Louise Brown, Prof. Robert G. Edwards and Dr. Patrick Steptoe started Bourn Hall Clinic in 1980 at the house of a Lord not far from Cambridge. Dr. Edwards went on to win the Nobel Prize in 2010 for Medicine for being the co-discoverer of IVF,’’ he told a press conference, ahead of the formal opening of the clinic.

Over 45 lakh couples worldwide have so far benefited from the IVF techniques (also called test-tube baby) pioneered by the founders Bourn Hall Clinic. Bourn Hall Clinic has directly assisted in the birth of 10,000 test-tube babies over the last 32 years.

The Gurgaon clinic is Bourn Hall’s second in India, first being the one launched in Kochi in mid-April 2011. It is one of the five clinics with clean room IVF lab in the world.

Dr. Pravin Kini, chief executive officer (India) Bourn Hall Clinic, said the facility here has some of the most unique features that are maintained by an IVF Lab anywhere in the world. “It has a Clean Room IVF lab that is extremely complex and is forward-compliant with the EU Tissue Directive (sets standards of quality and safety for the procurement, preservation and distribution of human tissues and cells) and the upcoming USFDA (United States Food and Drug Administration) guidelines for future IVF labs,” he revealed. “Earlier generations of IVF labs were a legacy and used technologies and procedures when IVF labs were not controlled by strict regulations.”

“We are proud of BHI’s forceful presence in India and the addition of a major reference centre with the opening of the Gurgaon clinic,” said Dr. Helmut M. Schuehsler, chairman and CEO of TVM Capital MENA, one of the major shareholders of the company. “As investors in healthcare, we have identified fertility as a major and growing health issue around the world. We try to address this pressing need by bringing what we consider the strongest brand and best team in this sector worldwide to India and the Middle East.”  

He said the company would be looking to invest 20-50 million dollars in the next 4-5 years to develop 18-20 such centres in India. Dr. Schuehsler is also the chairman of the Group’s board of directors and the chairman of Bourn Hall Clinic International (P) Ltd, the holding company of Bourn Hall Clinic, India.

Ismail Abdulwahid Sayeedi, who is chairman of Al Zarooni Emirates Investments LCC, a major investor in the Clinic, said his company has had a long relation with India with interests in airlines and infrastructure. “Now, we are into healthcare as well. We are trying to specialise on niche markets and are looking to enter education sector also,” added the Sheikh, who is a former Sharjah Oil Minister.