Wadia hospital to start IVF, surrogacy unit

Egg donors, between the age of 21 to 35 years, will be registered on the basis of current guidelines.
Parel-based Wadia Hospital is set to become the first government hospital in Mumbai to start assisted reproductive technique (ART) along with surrogacy. The charitable hospital will cater to lower strata of the society where infertile couples wish to conceive a child but cannot afford the expense on surrogacy or in-vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures.
The hospital has applied to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for approval. The IVF department is expected to start in two months. According to the hospital administration, they will first start the IVF facility and then proceed to provide surrogacy services.
“A system needs to be put in place to ensure eligibility of surrogate mothers and authentic identification. Surrogacy needs to be handled with care,” said Dr Minnie Bodhanwala, chief operating officer at Wadia Hospital.

The hospital’s family planning department will counsel parents about the new facility and the IVF procedure.
With awareness on surrogacy and ART still poor in low socio-economic communities, the hospital’s family planning unit will be trained for handling queries in various languages. “For now, we will keep two medico-social workers for counselling couples,” said Dr Ashvini Wadia, medical superintendent.
With a separate set of surrogacy laws yet to be in place in the country, the hospital will follow ICMR guidelines. Egg donors, between the age of 21 to 35 years, will be registered on the basis of current guidelines. According to Jogade, the hospital will only charge for basic treatment and medicines.

India's government expenditure on health among the lowest in the world

When it comes to government expenditure on health, India's is among the lowest in the world. 

In 2012, at 60 PPP dollars per capita, it was barely 1.4 per cent of the US government's per capita health dollar expenditure of 4,153 PPP dollars. 

Despite having such a high per capita public expenditure on health, the extremely high cost healthcare system in the US means the government covers only 47 per cent of total healthcare costs. 

In the UK and Japan, more than 80 per cent of the cost is covered by by government. In India, government expenditure is only 30.5 per cent of total expenditure on health.

Source : WHO