UAE | General
Where a glimmer of hope can beat the odds
For many infertile couples in the UAE, the stork has missed their home a little too often. But in Dubai, they have found a stork of their own, located within a nondescript white building within the Rashid Hospital compound.
- By Nina Muslim, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 May 4, 2007
- Hundreds of childless couples flock to Dubai Gynaecology and Fertility Centre each year.
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For many infertile couples in the UAE, the stork has missed their home a little too often. But in Dubai, they have found a stork of their own, located within a nondescript white building within the Rashid Hospital compound.
It is the Dubai Gynaecology and Fertility Centre (DGFC), a place that hundreds of couples flock to each year in the hope of one day holding their very own bundle of joy.
Set up in partnership between the Dubai Department of Health and Medical Services (Dohms) and a leading UK-based fertility expert, Professor Ian Craft, in 1991, the centre has been responsible for more than 2,300 babies born to couples in the UAE and surrounding countries.
Dr Husnia Gargash, consultant gynaecologist and director of the centre, tells Gulf News that fertility is an important issue to everybody.
"But here, it's a big issue if women cannot get pregnant. They are constantly pressured by in-laws and sometimes it is taken to the extreme, ending up with divorce or the husband taking another wife," she says.
Modern life
She adds that many of the fertility problems she encounters in her patients are due to the demands of modern life. More and more women are waiting to have children in favour of their career, be they Arab or other nationalities.
Others come to her not because they have trouble conceiving, but because they need help to produce a child of a particular gender to balance out the family dynamic.
And the rest have biological defects that can affect their fertility, such as a septated uterus, a condition in which the uterus is split in two. T
he centre has an average success rate of 43 per cent. In 2006, 48 per cent of couples undergoing in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) became pregnant while 41 per cent succeeded with Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI). Not bad, considering that most infertile couples had a less than 20 percent chance of becoming pregnant without assistance.
Dr Mohammad Al Kalyoubi, consultant gynaecologist at DGFC, tells Gulf News that many of their successful couples initially refuse to believe that they are pregnant.
"There are lots of emotions involved. Couples are on their last nerve. When they wait for the results, it is with a mixture of hope and hopelessness," he says.
Miracles occur every day at the centre thanks to its state-of-the-art technology and equipment, and some of the most amazing feats take place behind the restricted embryology unit and laboratory.
Procedure
Dr Samir Radi, senior embryologist at the centre, tells Gulf News that they can perform about four procedures daily.
"After we do the procedure, we leave the egg and sperm in the incubator for about 20 hours. If we see cells dividing after that time, then fertilisation has occurred," he adds.
Once an embryo has developed, embryologists do a biopsy on it and take it to the genetics lab to test for chromosomal abnormalities. Any unhealthy embryo is discarded.
Dr Gargash says it is the centre's ethical policy not to implant more than three embryos into a woman, unless the woman's age or the quality of the embryo warrants a maximum of five.
She says 25 per cent of implantations in 2006 resulted in twins and five per cent in triplets.
Fertility consultation
1991: In-vitro fertilisation (IVF), in which millions of sperm swarm the egg and fertilise it in a petri dish before being implanted into the woman's womb, is available.
1993: Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI), which involves injecting a sperm into the egg to fertilise it, before implanting it into the womb.
2007: The centre begins offering Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD), which allows embryologists to detect chromosomal anomalies in an embryo.
Costs
- All couples seeking treatment and expertise at the Dubai Gynaecology and Fertility Centre pay the same rate, regardless of nationality.
- An initial fertility consultation costs Dh350, while a follow-up visit and gynaecological consultation costs Dh250 each.
- Procedures, on the other hand, can cost between Dh1,300 and Dh30,000.
- Contact Dubai Gynaecology and Fertility Centre at 04 334 4300; http://www.dgfc.ae
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