Introduction
For any couple who are suffering from infertility, pursuing fertility treatment is a huge step. It also involves a commitment of money and time to ensure a safe and successful process. Therefore, you must follow some crucial steps to find the best IVF centre for your treatment.
Deciding on the right hospital for your fertility treatment is a subjective decision and is rather challenging.
It would be best if you consult your doctor, local support group and anyone else who has taken treatment earlier, for feedback and recommendations.
We have picked out some valuable tips to help you choose the best IVF centre.
Learn about different categories of IVF Centres
Many people aren't familiar that IVF centres come in different flavours or categories, depending on various factors. One must know that two clinics are not at all alike and the treatment that you may receive may be entirely different. Every category has its own advantages and disadvantages, with no category being better than another. Choose according to your needs. Here's the list:
1. Sole practitioners – Usually it is a small clinic, run by a single doctor, with very basic facilities for treating infertility, along with other gynecology and obstetric treatment. They are dependent on other IVF centres for some advanced treatment options.
2. Small practices that have limited infrastructure – These are slightly bigger clinics with their own andrology labs, pharmacies and a small IUI setup. They may or may not have operation theatres for minor procedures. These are managed by 1 or 2 doctors with skeletal staff.
3. Full-service Individual practices – These are IVF centres with almost all facilities but with only one unit. These generally tend to have a set of consultant doctors, visiting or full time embryologists and are led by a star doctor. They are well known in their geographical area and will have a reasonable practice.
4. Fertility Chains – These are similar to the individual practices, but will have many centres setup across multiple locations. These have a battery of doctors, embryologists, panel of specialists, high end laboratories, good team of embryologists with strong SOPs, systems, protocols, audit mechanisms and strong QA and QC.
5. University-based Setups – These are usually academic oriented and will be training doctors and embryologists along with research projects. They tend to work on the latest protocols and attend to the most complicated of the cases.
6. Hospital-based Setups – These are IVF centres that are setup inside existing multi-specialty hospitals, where infertility is one more department amongst many other departments.
Each of them has their own benefits. 1 and 2 tend to be lower cost, less waiting time, but not all services will be available under one roof. The team there may not be well versed in all aspects of fertility treatment. The 3rd one (Individual IVF Centres) will certainly be better than 1 and 2, but they may not have the best team or the collaboration required for best outcomes between multiple specialists of different departments.
IVF chains provide the best outcomes as there are multiple branches and the availability of good specialists who can collaborate and consult their own seniors and peers tend to provide great outcomes. But they also tend to have more workload and so waiting times may be more. Costs are also higher in chains as there will be stringent protocols and strong corporate governance. University based setups are more academic in nature and may also have the disadvantage of student trainees being involved in certain aspects of treatment. Hospital based setups have the challenge that there will be commercial pressure on the infertility departments vis-à-vis other more profitable departments like cardiac or orthopedic.
Thoroughly Investigate the clinic
Try to collect as much information about the clinic you are considering for your treatment. You can check out the past reviews and even meet past customers if they are on your contact list to learn about their experience with the clinic. It would be best to visit the place yourself to get a closer look at their services and environment. While you visit the place, make sure to check out the following
• What types of equipment do they use?
• What resources does the centre offer?
• What lab facilities do they provide?
• How comfortable are you with the doctor and the support staff?
• How transparent are they with their costs and treatment process?
Check the Centre's Success Rate
You can check the success rate of infertility clinics/ IVF centres by asking more about their success rates and what percentage of a surety they provide for the success of their treatment process. Usually, the success rates are mentioned on their official websites, but you ought to verify the actual numbers by yourself to check on their credibility. Any top IVF centre in India will be happy to share this with their patients, giving them constant assurance and necessary guidance.
Financial Support
In India, It is observed that individuals drop their plan to visit the fertility hospital due to expenses of treatment, medicines and lab investigations. But nowadays, there are many payment alternatives available in the area of IVF without compromising quality treatment. For instance, your health insurance policy may cover some aspects of treatment or other related procedures, which will overall decrease the fee. There are also many options available to convert your treatment cost into EMI payments at very little or no interest. To take advantage of these options, choose a centre that can educate you on these and help you with the process.
Conclusion
Going through the fertility process involves a roller coaster ride of emotions. Hopefully, the steps mentioned above are helpful in reducing your stress while choosing an IVF centre to begin your parental journey.
Along with that, also try to make some lifestyle changes, eat healthily, start meditation to maintain your calmness and stay motivated. Talk to your doctor about any issue you are facing; their advice will ease your unnecessary stress.
