Talking to a journalist, Jelavich expressed her bitterness as she couldn’t believe that her eligibility for a funded IVF programme was impossible. You may think that she was crazy, but the middle-aged woman was extremely angry than being sad. She narrates that after a medical checkup, she always knew that she had to undergo IVF in order to have a baby of her own, simply because her body was described as weak.
Down the road, she meets her fiance and in only a period of one year and a half, they decide to have children. On seeking treatment, she had to wait for the doctor for months because of the doctor’s busy schedules. It took her quite a few months to see a doctor in which she was told that her fiance had to fund the treatment that requires $12,000 for only a single treatment round.
The young lady had just turned 40 a month back and per now, Jelavich and her fiance stand in a dilemma as they have to save for the treatment and also pay the costly rent in New Zealand.
Comparing IVF Funding in India & Other Countries
In the developed countries, a woman’s eligibility for funded IVF treatments drops with age with those aged below 28 obtaining more funds than other patients.
Funding IVF
|
Age |
Funding (%) |
|
28 & Below |
50 |
|
29-30 |
48 |
|
31-32 |
45 |
|
34 |
42 |
|
36 |
37 |
|
40 |
20 |
|
42 |
11 |
|
43 & Above |
Below 10 |
Why is Funding An Issue in Developed Countries?
Reproduction is associated with a biological clock with older women having lower chances of conception and a high risk of miscarriages and similar complications.
In countries like New Zealand, the government stresses that public funds must be utilized in the appropriate manner and funding IVF in older women is extremely costly due to the reduced IVF success rate.
IVF Funding in India
Unlike other countries, funding for IVF isn’t limited to one’s age. Women aged above 40 still access the funding programme in case desired. Similarly, IVF cost in foreign countries like New Zealand, USA, seems way too high for couples to handle with a treatment round costing at least Rs. 7,50,000 compared to India, where a treatment round costs below Rs.3, 00,000.
In a new move to provide affordable IVF treatments, leading IVF centres have partnered to collect funds to open up more IVF centre in punjab. Funding for IVF in India strives at availing world-class IVF treatments to all infertile couples.
How IVF treatments dictate IVF funding
In Vitro Fertilization is generally a procedure that requires ovary stimulation to attain more mature eggs for the procedure. This step requires fertility drugs that are orally taken or injected into a woman. These fertility drugs are taken at intervals and the treatment course may last for four months.
In older women, there is a higher incidence that ovaries may fail to produce reliable eggs for the IVF procedure, causing failure.
In addition, older women are more liable to miscarriages which proves the entire procedure to be a waste of time and money. This is generally a major factor as to why developed countries limit IVF funds to older women.