By Gitanjali Banerjee

Infertility in India is considered a taboo, no one wants to talk about it. But the fact is that about 27.5 million couples in India suffer from infertility. And not everyone can opt for infertility treatments. Why? Due to lack of awareness, lack of accessibility to good doctors, lack of fertility care, lack of emotional support and high cost of treatment. All of this makes infertility treatments a choice that only a few can afford or those who have no choice but to endure financial hardship. But isn’t parenthood a basic need for every couple?

An IVF cycle in India starts at Rs 1,00,000 lakhs and on average, a couple spends between Rs 2,00,000 and Rs 5,00,000 lakhs in this whole journey. A couple prepare mentally, physically and financially for their IVF treatment. But the hidden difficulties begin when there are additional charges or emergency procedures that the couple were not told about earlier. One of our Fertility Dost community from Delhi undergoing IVF treatment shared his horrific experience when the clinic gave him the base price of Rs. 1.80 lakhs for his IVF treatment at the time of registration and was told there could be a minor increase of no more than 10% over the quoted cost. Later, there were so many tests and additions that the cost almost doubled, which she was not prepared for.

Here is the breakdown of her IVF package cost:

Base Cost = Rs.180,000

Semen analysis Rs. 800 to Rs. 1500

Injections = Rs. 80,000 – 130,000 Rupees

Post-ET medications= Rs. 20,000

· Embryo freezing = Rs. 25,000 rupees. 50,000

Theater Fee = Rs. 35,000

Hysteroscopy = Rs. 25,000- Rs. 40,000

Scans=Rs. 1,500 rupees. 4000

Sperm storage = Rs. 5000- Rs. 8000

IMSI = Rs. 40,000

Anesthesia = Rs. 5000

*Prices are indicative and may change depending on location and process

Being transparent with couples about costs is extremely important. Recently I saw an ad from an IVF clinic offering a three cycle IVF package with the guarantee that if they are unable to conceive with this package there is cash back. Now beware of these schemes where you will not only end up paying three times the cost although reduced, but always higher and you will not have the option to leave if things go south. And what will you do with the cashback if your three rounds of IVF fail? Unfortunately, you won’t even have the strength to go back and claim your cashback.

Another clinic advertised IVF at Rs 28,000. I was fortunately skeptical and called them for more details. It turns out that the price quoted was only a part of it, then there will be the cost of drugs, injections, tests, etc., which will bring the final cost to Rs 1.50,000 Irritated, I asked “so what is IVF without the injections?”. It was clearly a marketing scam that our gullible couple easily fell into.

A couple wanting an egg donor IVF cycle came to avail our doctor matching service and when we gave them a cost of Rs 2-2.5 Lacs, they found it hard to believe as they was quoted by another doctor 3 different packages of Rs. 5,000,000 rupees. 6 Lakhs and Rs. 8,000,000. The reason for the high cost was “You can choose the donor’s skin color, hair color, height, etc.” but with a no guarantee disclaimer and we can only do our best, all written in fine print.

1. Do your research well

2. Ask lots of questions

3. Protect yourself from unethical clinics that are not transparent with costs.

4. Look for real reviews beyond Google rankings. Talk to real couples who went through the treatment/clinic to get the real BTS

5. Don’t fall for unethical practices that guarantee a certain gender, color, etc.

The need for an insurance policy

In India, only a handful of private and public organizations provide insurance coverage for fertility treatments and provide paid fertility leave. We need more reforms to be done under this because only a fixed amount which too only for specific infertility conditions and single cycle of IVF is covered in these insurance policies. Unfortunately, this is not applicable in all cases, as not everyone is lucky enough to have a successful first IVF attempt. An insurance policy should cover all fertility treatments like IVF, IUI, ICSI, egg freezing, medication, donor IVF, surrogacy as well as adoption. He must also cover several cycles of IVF in his annual plan.

When it comes to paid time off, there are many anecdotes from our community of infertility fighters who confessed to having had to quit their jobs, careers just because they couldn’t find the balance between their job and the fertility treatments. It also leads to major financial stress as one of the earring members is now out of a job, especially when the couple are already in financial crisis.

“Neither my company covered insurance nor gave paid holidays. Also, my team and my boss were all the more troubled that after trying to balance things out for 10 months, I ended up quitting…. said one of our premium members.

Infertility in India is increasing at an alarming rate. It also creates an opportunity for some unethical doctors to charge whatever they want. With the new ART bill coming, I hope ART treatments will be more transparent and organized. And soon we will have a realistic insurance plan that will help couples on their IVF journey.

(The author is the founder of Fertility Dost. The opinions expressed are personal and do not reflect the official position or FinancialExpress.com policy.)