While I was wholly grooved in the ambience of music and bonfire in Goa, a couple from Philadelphia started sharing their experience of India as how their honeymoon transformed to a babymoon. All ears around the campfire automatically got glued towards the story of Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters.

The essence of spirituality, serenity and geographical diversity motivated Hazel and Augustus to choose India as their honeymoon destination. Mr Waters shared a rather personal fact that Hazel was always excited to start a family. Yet, she let go of her desire and readily accepted Augustus Waters’ marriage proposal despite knowing he was infertile. They planned to adopt a baby after a few years of their marriage, as infertility solutions like In-vitro fertilisation, intrauterine insemination (IUI), Keyhole Surgery, Kisspeptin etc. are exorbitant in the USA.

While they were in Delhi, enjoying the rave of the Sufi music at Weekender, they

bumped into another couple from Australia who amazed them by sharing their wonderful experience of having their first baby via in-vitro fertilisation in India. They exchanged with them information about a renowned medical travel assistance platform in India- Medmonks, who helped them to choose amongst the top IVF Centres in India and curated entire medical journey for them.

After learning that the cost of in-vitro fertilisation in India is one-tenth of what is charged in the USA, their eyes sparkled with hope. Hazel and Augustus left the weekender without saying anything, but deep inside they could sense a positive hope budding.

Very next morning, Augustus reached out to the team Medmonks as suggested by the Australian couple, to know more about the infertility treatment options available in India. This one step started the most amazing and anticipated journey of their life. Within few minutes they were approached by in-house doctor from Medmonks who took their detailed clinical history and further analysed and evaluated their medical examination reports.

They provided them with the most suitable list of leading ivf specialists in India matching their health requirements. Once the couples decided upon the ivf centre, Medmonks became part of their medical journey, bridging all possible information and services gaps, so that Augustus and Grace could focus their attention only on the treatment procedure and be mentally free from other formalities required in the medical journey.

The results turned out to be positive, and the couple will soon give birth to their baby. What was more pleasant is the fact that the specialist was able to retrieve Mr Waters’ sperm via a medical procedure called TESA [Testicular sperm aspiration]. Augustus and Hazel killed two birds with the same stone as India gifted them a delighted honeymoon and babymoon.

Augustus and Hazel are one of the many lucky couples who had chosen India for their IVF procedures.

Tour to India with respect to their medical journey converted from a rejuvenation journey turned out to be not only successful, but also cost-effective. The total cost incurred by them was just 5000 USD including medications.

The prime reasons for patients travelling from developed countries like the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore, Germany and Australia to India for availing medical facilities are cost-effectiveness and the quality of healthcare facilities provided by the healthcare professionals. State-of-the-art techniques and equipment, proficient clinical care make India world-renowned and among the list of amongst the best medical care providers in the world. Today, is one of the most preferred medical travel destination in the world. International patients travelling to India to seek medical treatment in 2012, 2013 and 2014 numbered 171,021, 236,898, and 184,298 respectively (Wikipedia).

Frequently asked questions about the scenario of  In-vitro fertilization in India

Q- What are the restrictions on physical or personal activities during the IVF cycle?

Answer-

1. Avoid engaging yourself in exercises such as weight lifting, jogging, aerobics, outdoor sports etc. during the ovarian stimulation unless and until the pregnancy results are known.
2. Strict abstinence from smoking before ovulation induction starts, it is highly endorsed by the healthcare providers to put an end to tobacco intake at least three months before an IVF cycle.
3. Alcohol consumption is not advisable from the time fertility medications are initiated up until the pregnancy test is conducted.
4. No over the counter medication-Always recommend your physician before engaging into other medications as some are not safe to use before medical procedure and have tendency to interfere with the ovulation or pregnancy implantation.
5. Absolute prohibition of the herbal supplements.

Q- What is the duration of the egg retrieval?

Answer-

Egg retrieval is a prompt procedure. Usually egg retrieval takes around twenty to thirty minutes. The duration of the procedure may vary depending on the number of follicles present and the degree of ease with which ovaries could be reached with ultrasound probe.

Q- Is the egg retrieval painful?

Answer-

Negligible or no pain as the anaesthesia specialists use medications that are heavily sedative. So, you will be tightly asleep during the process of egg retrieval.

Q- Why does the husband or partner too have to take antibiotics?

Answer-

If the sperms used in the procedure is retrieved from the husband or partner, then antibiotics helps to protect the women from infection or to reduce the presence of harmful bacteria during IVF. The case where the frozen embryo transfer occurs by using a frozen specimen, then the husband/partner will not need any antibiotics.

Q- When is the blood pregnancy test performed?

Answer-

14 days after the egg retrieval.

Q- Is there any age cut-off for undergoing IVF with own eggs?

Answer-

Some healthcare professionals restrain from retrieving egg of women who are older than 45 that decision of the physician varies depending on the medical history and FSH levels of the IVF candidate.

Q- Will the baby conceived by IVF would suffer from birth defects?

Answer-

Statistically speaking, there is not trend observed by the healthcare professionals with respect to increasing birth defects in the babies conceived via IVF.

Q- What are the benefits of getting IVF treatment in India?

Answer-

Yearly, thousands of patients with several health deformities travel to India to get treatment from distinguished specialists in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, and many others. Here is the list of reasons that have made India an ideal destination for medical travel or tourism.

• Cost-effectiveness in all the surgical or non-surgical procedure when compared to the developed countries like the USA, UK, Australia, Singapore, and Japan, which approximately round up to the cost-saving in the ratio 1:10 (India: The USA and some other developed countries).
• The availability of state-of-the-art healthcare facilities.
• Use of cutting-edge techniques and equipment to treat infertility.
• Proficient IVF specialists with best clinical acumen.
• High success rate, nearly 50 to 60 percent.
• India is well connected with respect to travel connectivity and language adaptability.
• India is counted among the top countries for rejuvenation for after surgical care.
• Availability of medical travel platforms like Medmonks, to bridge all possible information and service gaps and to become part of the patients’ medical journey in order to ensure best care before, during and after the treatment procedure.