Many infertility clinics in Hyderabad are found flouting Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines because of which many clinics are witnessing low success rate in the state.

According to sources, many infertility clinics in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad in Andhra Pradesh are not maintaining documentation of cases and all the equipment used for the commission of in vitro fertilization (IVF) babies are not of high quality.  Because of sidelining of the ICMR guidelines and flouting of rules and regulations not many clinics have seen much success, opined a source from ICMR.

Reflecting the sad state of affairs of the infertility clinics in the state, in a recent incident an NRI Maulik Modi whose daughter and son were born through in vitro fertilization at Dr Rama Devi IVF fertility clinic in Ameerpet, has alleged that certain ICMR guidelines were not followed by the clinic during the IVF commission of his children.

According to the NRI’s complaint, the parental details mentioned by the clinic in the birth certificates are incorrect owing to which his four year old daughter is being denied a passport and he is unable to take her to the US.

As per the ICMR guidelines, a contract is required between the biological parent and the IVF clinic to commission IVF surrogacy for the child. However the clinic does not have any legal documents constituting a contract from him, alleged Modi. But the sources at Rama Devi clinic say they have not violated any guidelines. As per guidelines a surrogate cannot be a donor so as to prevent any emotional bond between the surrogate and the child. In every case, it is the couples called ‘commissioning couple’ who are the parents, the names of the sperm or egg donor are surrogate remains anonymous.

On the whole, many experts view that several infertility clinics in the state are not maintaining documentation of cases and the equipment used is also of low standards.  Dr Vijaya Lakshmi, an infertility expert, felt that the commission of an IVF baby is an extremely complicated job as the eggs and sperms are very minuscule. In fact it needs an artistic hand to carry on the process and years of experience. High quality equipment like stereo zoom microscope, high power inverted microscope with micro manipulation systems, diode laser systems, incubators and pressures clean rooms are needed. The initial stages of the process take at least 24 to 48 hours and the entire process is done through an ultra image guided system.

Many people of the opinion that since the equipment is expensive, many infertility clinics in the state are using poor quality equipment because of which many times the clinics fail and have to repeat their trials more than ones to achieve success.