The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Foetal medicine, ART centres proposed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 31, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Foetal medicine, ART centres proposed

Ramya Kannan

Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology made the proposal

CHENNAI: The Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology has made a proposal to the government to start two new departments — one for foetal medicine and the other, a centre for assisted reproductive therapy (ART) — on its campus in order to bring the public sector up to scratch with the evolving demands of medicare.

The hospital which was recently granted Rs.100 crore by the Central Health Ministry, which also recognised it as a Centre of Excellence, is hoping to expand its research, diagnostic and therapeutic base and take it to the next level.

With experts, within the institution and outside, concurring that for an institute of excellence in obstetrics a foetal medicine centre and ART clinic are “essential,” the institution decided to send proposals to the government.

Hospital authorities believe that the foetal medicine centre can ride piggyback on the hospital’s genetics department, dealing as it does with pre-natal diagnostics and intervention. The existing genetics department is manned by qualified personnel who counsel mothers and also consult at the paediatric outpatient unit at the hospital there.

Authorities believe that with this as the base, a full-fledged pre-natal diagnostics department can be set up, by supplementing the infrastructure with state-of-the-art equipment.

Once set up, the foetal medicine centre will be able to screen pregnant mothers for foetal abnormalities, provide counselling to parents in high-risk category and at a later stage, be able to provide intra-uterine interventions as well, hospital staff say. Even the counselling can be valuable to parents in the lower-income groups, especially among those who continue the practice of consanguineous marriages where the chances of foetal abnormalities occurring are higher, gynaecologists add.

If such facilities were not provided in the government set-up, it is unlikely the parents will ever be able to access such care, gynaecologists say.

Even with the ART, which offers a number of procedures to beat infertility in couples, the cost-advantage argument is being advanced. While costs for the ART in the private sector are steep, starting a centre in a government hospital will mean that the same facilities are available at a concession to lower-income groups.

As it is, the IOG offers the procedure of “Intra Uterine Insertion” also referred to as artificial insemination, where the male sperm is inserted into the womb by doctors to help the women conceive.

But gynaecologists at the IOG are recording many more cases of infertile couple coming to the government hospital for help and believe that more modern ART techniques should be offered to all patients.

Health Secretary V. K. Subburaj told The Hindu that the Health Department would favourably consider the proposals for the two units, considering the specialities were in great demand.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu