The Hindu : New Delhi News : In-vitro fertilisation facility now at AIIMS

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In-vitro fertilisation facility now at AIIMS

Staff Reporter

“Another milestone for Institute aimed at benefiting the poor”

NEW DELHI: Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Anbumani Ramadoss on Thursday dedicated to the country the first in-vitro fertilisation facility in the public sector set up at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences here.

“This is another milestone for the Institute aimed at benefiting the poor sections of society. We will support all such ventures, especially in the field of stem cell. My aim is to see AIIMS as a hub of world-class research,” said Dr. Ramadoss.

The Minister said his department was working at making the guidelines presented by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on assisted reproductive technology into an Act to check the unregulated and unethical practices widespread in the field of assisted reproduction.

Dr. Ramadoss said India should work at controlling its high infant and maternal mortality rate, check the decline of sex ratio and curb malnourishment. The IVF facility at AIIMS will be manned by a team of highly-trained doctors and staff under the leadership of Dr. Suneeta Mittal, Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

“This is going to be an advanced in-vitro fertilisation centre with the latest equipment and infrastructure and the facility will be part of the national service being provided by the Institute. Research will be an integral part of our work. The facility also hopes to reach out to people with cancer who still want to have children later. We are also looking at creating an embryonic stem cell bank,” said Dr. Mittal.

Present at the function were also Institute director T. D. Dogra and former ICMR Director-General N. K. Ganguly among others. “This latest addition is another step in that direction and we hope to provide affordable world class IVF facility to the poor. Our doctors and medical staff have undergone special training for the same and we are proud to dedicate the facility to the nation,” said Dr. Dogra.

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