A bundle of joy for childless couples
Shilpa Dhamija
Pune: A late pregnancy, a resultant miscarriage and severely damaged kidneys have shattered Anita Verma's dream of becoming a mother. Doctors have told her she will never bear a child. Friends have told her adoption is the only option. But this 33-year-old finance professional wants her own child.
Anita and her husband Saurabh Verma eventually opted for the surrogacy procedure to get their own baby, early. "If we go through this then baby will be genetically ours. Somewhere in mind it a makes difference that it will be our baby," she says.
Agrees her husband, "The only emotional difference was that we wouldn't be having our baby but the very fact that there was an option to have a baby was a positive emotion for us."
There are many such working couples like the Vermas across India opting for surrogate mothers to have a child.
In Pune alone, Dr Sunita Tandulwadkar - Chief IVF (In-Vitro Fertilisation) Consultant and Endoscopist at the Ruby Hall Clinic - has conducted 15 surrogate procedures in the last 18 months. Half of them were cases of working couples unable to conceive.
"Such couples it is very safe to induce them to take out retrieve their eggs, take sperms from spouse and take help of surrogate mother," she says.
The cost of surrogacy is high: the IVF procedure costs up to Rs 80,000 and surrogate mother can charge anything between Rs 50,000 and Rs 5 lakh. But those who have the money, feel it’s worth the cost. "I feel life is incomplete without a baby whether you adopt it or from surrogacy, whatever the method is,” says Anita.
For rent, wombs in Pune
SURROGATE MOTHERS : From relatives to women who conceive for a fee, surrogacy programme attracts people to city.
Anuradha Mascarenhas/Sachin Diwan
Pune/Kolhapur, January 14: Sydney-based John D’Cruz (name changed) and wife Irene — of Indian origin — have been trying for a child for several years. After 10 failed In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) cycles in Australia, the couple decided to go in for a surrogate mother. Irene’s distant cousin in Pune agreed to ‘lend her womb’ and be the surrogate mother of John and Irene’s child.
A couple from Jalandhar, too, facing the same problem and after having tried out various treatments, decided to ‘hire a womb’. Through advertisements, they were finally able to locate a woman — a mother of two children — who was willing to do the job for money. The destination: Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune.
THEY are not the only couples who have come to Pune looking for surrogate mothers. There are already three cases underway in Ruby Hall Clinic and one that will begin next year at Pune Fertility Centre in Shivajinagar.
From demands for a light-eyed, tall and educated woman to conceive for a couple to creating oozyte banks, surrogacy is now slowly catching up in Pune. Doctors said though mostly relatives have come forward to act as surrogate mothers, there have been cases of women ready to conceive for a fee — from Rs 25,000 for giving their eggs to Rs 8-10 lakh for the entire contract.
In fact, Pune Fertility Centre has announced the ‘surrogacy programme’ and invited ‘women in the 25-30 years age group’ to enroll as members. ‘‘Monetary benefits are playing a key role in attracting women to act as surrogate mothers. The rent-a-womb contract for the surrogate mother can be as high as Rs 8-10 lakh,’’ said Pune Fertility Centre lab director Shehbaaz Daruwala.
Chief IVF consultant and endoscopist at Ruby Hall Clinic Sunita Tandulwadkar said they had been receiving several queries. ‘‘It is legal in India,’’ she said.
But she was also quick to add that they don’t supply surrogate mothers. ‘‘We can only advise couples to advertise in the papers or magazines. The matter is between the surrogate mother and the couple,’’ she said adding, legal issues are solved and after agreements are made, the couple seek medical assistance.
Daruwala said the demand for ‘‘eggs’’ were primarily from women with a genetic problem or with those whose ovaries don’t have eggs or from women who suffer from premature ovarian failure.
In Kolhapur, 52-year-old woman bears daughter’s son
Woman had to battle advanced age, social stigma, while doctors ensured safe delivery
IN a case that runs parallel to the one in Anand, Gujarat where a woman gave birth to her daughter’s child a few years ago, a 52-year-old woman in Kolhapur became a surrogate mother to a 7-pound baby boy this week. The couple who approached Drs Satish and Ujjwala Patki for the in-vitro fertilisation were the woman’s daughter and son-in-law.
The younger woman suffered from uterine agenesis, wherein the ovaries are normal but the uterus is not. According to Dr Patki, ‘‘She suffered from a condition called Rokitansky Kuster Hauser Syndrome and could have never borne a child.’’
As such, the couple decided to look for a surrogate mother. After her mother’s consent, which was in accordance with the ICMR guidelines, in-vitro fertilisation was done. The embryo was grown in a test tube for 3 days and transferred to the womb of the surrogate mother.
But this was not without problems since the surrogate mother was 52, well past her child-bearing age. ‘‘We had to activate her uterus using hormone replacement technique. Moreover, the older woman braved advanced age, high blood pressure and atherosclerosis (hardening of blood vessels),’’ said Dr Patki. Just before her delivery, other problems cropped up and a Caesarean-section had to be done. As for the surrogate mother, she says she will give the baby to her daughter after 3 months. ‘‘Then, I will be his grandmother,’’ she says.
