On Monday, March 9, a leading national
newspaper published as a “Supplement” a two-page article, what it calls,
a “Special focus on standard IVF clinics in Nigeria,” and entitled it,
“Scourge of infertility: IVF as an option.” The article “advertised”
fertility centres in Nigeria and those behind them. There were also
telephone numbers where other clinics can get in touch with it so that
they can also be “advertised.”
Pray, is In vitro fertilisation otherwise
known as IVF now an exception to the Medical and Dental Council of
Nigeria’s rule against advertising among doctors?
Continue reading after the cut....
One of the clinics in selling itself over
its “competitors” said “some clinics claim to do IVF whereas they only
do the conventional IVF.” Another clinic touted “in our 10 years of
existence, we have been able to assist in the conception of hundreds of
babies and we are still counting.” Still, another said “we are committed
to delivering optimum customer satisfaction beyond expectations.”
It’s not lost on me that among the owners
of the mentioned fertility centres is a renowned professor in the field
of fertility in Nigeria. But as the article itself said, there are
still quacks in the field.
Every time you read anything on fertility
centres, they mostly create an impression that it is a one-stop shop
for “all” problems concerning infertility.
Medical science has done great things for
humans, but with assisted reproductive technologies, medical science
fails far more often than is generally believed.
The European Society of Human
Reproduction and Embryology reports that on the average, out of the 1.5
million assisted reproductive cycles done worldwide, only 350,000
resulted in the couple having a child. That puts it as a 77 per cent
failure rate worldwide. Even in the United States, the Centres for
Disease Control and Prevention gave the failure rate as nearing 70 per
cent.
As Miriam Zoll and Pamela Tsigdinos put
it, “Behind those failed cycles are millions of women and men who have
engaged in a debilitating, Sisyphus-like battle with themselves and
their infertility, involving daily injections, drugs, hormones,
countless blood tests and other procedures.”
Almost 37 years after scientists in
Britain gave the world its first “test-tube baby,” assisted reproduction
is now worth about $4bn a year.
But the story is different in Israel
where it costs almost nothing. There, until recently when a cap was
fixed on the number of cycles a woman could have, it was limitless.
Yet, you can’t miss the marketing aspect
of fertility clinics that reminds you it is still a business venture.
IVF costs a fortune in Nigeria and many parts of the world.
Fertility centres deal with customers who
are desperate and vulnerable. “Once inside the surreal world of
reproductive medicine, there is no obvious off-ramp; you keep at it as
long as your bank account, health insurance or sanity hold out.”
Many couples are in debt because of
fertility clinics, and despite many failures are still hoping for the
elusive breakthrough. With the journey of infertility, anyone who stops
is regarded as a failure in the race. To a childless couple, one out of a
million chances means “I still have a chance.”
It does not help that our culture sees having children as the purpose of marriage.
Even up till today, no one can say for sure the long term risks of all the invasive procedures and experimental interventions.
Zoll and Tsigdinos say, “Ending our
treatments was one of the bravest decisions we ever made, and we did it
to preserve what little remained of our shattered selves, our strained
relationships and our depleted bank accounts. No longer under the spell
of the industry’s seductive powers, we study its marketing tactics with
eagle’s eyes, and understand how, like McDonald’s, the fertility
industry works to keep people coming back for more.”
Of course, there will be lucky couples.
But no one hears the other side of the story, where clients who refused
to give up became addictive, with cycles of debilitating trauma.
Even with all this, in an unfair world as
ours, every year it is estimated that 42 million women with unintended
pregnancies abort those pregnancies.
That is why a little girl who hawks oranges gets pregnant and gets beaten by her parents, while those who want it don’t get it.
Much as science can claim to aid
conception, ultimately children are from God. He gives them out how He
so chooses. We cannot query Him. If He says He created you to be barren,
in that situation, as in all situations, give Him thanks.
God ordained marriage for companionship,
and not mainly to have children. Children are only additions to it. You
might get them. You might not get them. It does not mean God loves you
any less.
Nevertheless, for childless couples seeking God’s mercy, it is not a time to ask God “why me?”
As a couple, say prayers of agreement,
telling God you accept His will, with or without a child. That way, the
anxiety is removed. For some women, it is just the stress of
childlessness that perpetuates their infertility. Babies will not want
to live in a body in constant agitation. They want a peaceful abode.
If you want children, don’t be “crazy about kids.” It is an ironical world where what we don’t want is what we get!
I have encountered couples of many years’
infertility, who after counselling them to get their mind off children
and put their mind and trust in God, for good or for bad, come back to
tell me the “good news.”
Of course, with infertility, there will
be those couples whose infertility has clear causes, who will need
medical intervention. But for a good number you cannot find any clear
cause.
Even women who have delivered a child
before, it does not mean the second child will come automatically. As a
woman ages, her fertility reduces. There could still be other factors.
Many, without any medical intervention, but with a large dose of
patience, will still conceive.
Those who are running fertility clinics
must not raise false hopes. Their clients have a right to know about the
risks to their health, the social downsides, and the documented high
failure rates even in the best of centres. Clients should be given
proper and unbiased advice without thinking about the money to be raked
in.
- Cosmas Odoemena/Punch
Share your thoughts....thanks!
No comments:
Post a Comment