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Expert seeks more IVF centres to boost reproductive health

By Michael Egbejule, Benin City
17 March 2016   |   12:54 am
A renowned scholar and university teacher, Prof. Osato Giwa-Osagie, has tasked the public sector to establish more in-Vitro Fertilization (IVF), training centres in public hospitals across the country...
IVF

IVF

A renowned scholar and university teacher, Prof. Osato Giwa-Osagie, has tasked the public sector to establish more in-Vitro Fertilization (IVF), training centres in public hospitals across the country. This, he said, would help in addressing and reducing issues related with reproductive health that has plagued women in the Nigeria and beyond.

Speaking at the University of Benin Town and Gown symposium lecture, entitled: “The impact of IVF test tube-babies in Nigeria”, Giwa-Osagie said the advancement in science has made it possible for women who have blocked tubes, which is the number one cause of infertility, to access treatments that works.

Giwa-Osagie, disclosed that the move, when successfully actualised would help to assist persons who do not have enough cash to fund two or three IVF cycles, which is sometimes required to achieve pregnancy through IVF method, referred to as “test-tube babies.”

In the absence of insurance coverage for infertility, or grants to assist infertile couples to succeed in the field of reproduction, the medical expert asserted that of the 47 IVF centres in Nigeria, 42 were privately owned, while five are owned and managed by government.

He iterated that government-controlled health care centres, where the IVF method have become functional includes, the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), National Hospital, Abuja, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) amongst other, whose IVF training centre has just been re-opened after 30 years.

On his part, Vice-Chancellor, University of Benin, Prof. Faraday Orumwense, in his remarks, said the symposium was born-out of the need to sustain and improve reproductive health practice, as the institution under his leadership, is determined to assist in resolving global problems through academic research.

The medical expert noted that the major cause of infertility is infection urging that, “there should be effort to always ensure that our women deliver safely and in hygiene environment under the expertise of qualified care providers, including certified nurses and doctors.

He cautioned on the need for women to practice personal and environmental hygiene to achieve success in reproductive health, stressing that, “Each IVF circle has about 70 percent failure rate and 30 percent success rate.”

According to him, “Persons born without functioning ovaries or who do not release eggs, as well as others who have never experienced their menstrual circle in their lives can now have babies with IVF. Giwa-Osagie added that men, who either have low sperm count or without sperm, can have babies as well, by a process whereby their sperm is harvested from their testis and subjected to laboratory examination.”

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