GUWAHATI, Sept 11 - In a development that should excite the medical fraternity here, countries like Bhutan and Bangladesh have expressed their willingness to adopt in vitro fertilisation (IVF) techniques used by experts in Assam.
In fact, Bangladesh�s one of the leading government medical care set-ups, Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital has written to the Pratiksha Hospital authority earlier this month seeking permission to facilitate training in the Guwahati-based hospital for a four-member team from Bangladesh.
Representatives of both the neighbouring countries are in touch with internationally-renowned IVF expert Dr Pramod Kumar Sharma of Pratiksha Hospital, expressing their desire to get trained in the State.
The Bhutan Government has already declared Pratiksha Hospital as a referral centre for treating infertile couples. The news of intent shown by these neighbouring countries came as an encouragement for the government which is harbouring the idea of promoting Assam as a medical tourism destination.
Every year, patients from neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan and many other countries land up in Guwahati to get infertility treatment done.
Talking to this reporter, Dr Sharma said, �It is good that the technique used by our experts is regarded as one of the best practices. But I have always believed that it is the technological advancements, not individuals, who should be credited for the success rate of IVF treatment across the globe.�
Sharma, who has a number of international research papers on the subject to his credit, further said that at present more than 20 IVF scientists are working under his set-up.
Dr Sharma informed that the hospital does over 1,000 IVF procedures annually at a success rate that stands at par with some of the leading centres in the country.
�It was after we received unprecedented response from patients from outside the State and the country that we went to replicate our Guwahati model in places like Gurgaon and Kolkata,� said Dr Sharma, who is credited with facilitating the birth of the first surrogate baby for an NRI couple in the Northeast in 2008. In the very next year, the first baby through the method of Frozen Blastocyst Transfer was born under Dr Sharma�s initiative.
