CHR—CENTER OF HOPE FOR COUPLES IN ODISHA HAVING INFERTILITY ISSUES
Around 25 per cent of the 60 to 80 million couples suffering from infertility every year worldwide live in India while one in every four couples in developing countries is affected by infertility, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Infertility, which affects approximately 15 per cent of Indian couples, is viewed as a major problem with far reaching consequences. Myriad causes including late marriages which is becoming the norm, stressful lifestyle, obesity, junk food intake, smoking, alcoholism and drug addiction are mostly responsible for the condition.
According to the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), there has been an enhancement of infertility rate in Indians in the last two decades. The top five causes of infertility in women includes Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), Endometriosis, abnormal male factor, Tubal blockages and ovulation problems.
The problem is being handled successfully at the Center for Human Reproduction (CHR), the Infertility and In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) unit of the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital in Bhubaneswar since 2012 which is the first infertility unit in Odisha to provide IVF treatment in a medical college hospital with benefits of multidisciplinary care.
The center which was enrolled under the ICMR in 2013, has been registered under the Odisha State Board for Assisted Reproductive Technique (ART) as a Level 2 ART clinic.
The center’s facilities include infertility couple counseling, transvaginal scan, ovulation induction and follicular monitoring, fertility enhancing laparoscopic surgeries, semen analysis, intrauterine insemination (IUI), in-vitro fertilization (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), surgical sperm retrieval procedures (TESA/PESA), semen and embryo freezing and donor sperm IUI and IVF. CHR’s success rate was at par with the global trend of ART success at 48.1 per cent for IVF and 14 per cent for IUI.
Apart from basic and advanced fertility treatment, CHR has the facility for fertility preservation for both sexes before undergoing chemotherapy or pelvic radiation as cancer therapy. The cost of treatment has been kept at an affordable level to enable most couples to avail the facility.
“Our mission and vision is to individually care for every infertile couple for near exact diagnosis of the problem and specific treatment reducing time to achieve pregnancy with minimal side effects,” Prof. (Dr.) Sujata Pradhan, Professor and Head of CHR, said.