IVF facility inaugurated at Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Egmore

CHENNAI: The State-of-the-art In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) facility was inaugurated at the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology (IOG) in Egmore on Friday. This is the first time the IVF facility has been set up at a government hospital in South India at a cost of Rs 6.8 crores.

The equipment has been imported from other countries and installed at the hospital.

A similar facility will be set up at the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai.

Inaugurating the facility at the hospital, the health minister said that advanced techniques are aimed at reducing the maternal mortality rate. The mortality rate has reduced in the last year, as there were about 70 deaths per lakh among pregnant women. It has come down to 52 per lakh infants in the State last year.

"The reduction of about 45.46 percent has been achieved by the efforts of the doctors and staff of the government hospitals, district headquarters hospitals and primary health centres. The State health department aims to reduce the maternal deaths with the help of such advanced techniques such as IVF."

Citing various reasons for a rise in infertility, he said that the changing lifestyle, inadequate diet and lack of physical activity are a major cause of infertility. As per World Health Organisation, about 3.9 percent women in the age group of 25-40 years are impacted due to infertility.

In order to treat infertility in women and provide support, the IVF facility is being provided at the government hospital in Tamil Nadu. While government hospitals in Chandigarh, Delhi and Maharashtra have IVF facility in government hospitals, the total cost is about Rs 7 lakh -Rs 10 lakh. However, the treatment is free in Tamil Nadu.