Medical tourism has become a popular choice for wannabe parents

27.03.2015

The 37-year-old journalist went online, when realized there were many more Serbian women like her on the internet. She also discovered a private hospital in Macedonia that had been helping single women like her to conceive.

After what seemed like endless doctor appointments, medical bills and travels – and the purchase of enough sperm for three in vitro fertilization attempts – Ana Adzic brought a baby girl, Antonia, into the world by Caesarian section at the Acibadem Sistina Clinic, now responsible for some 6,000 births since opening 14 years ago.

The World Health Organization has recognized infertility as an illness, but as for today not all countries permit the IVF treatments that culminated in a newborn for Ana Adzic. Ongoing health issues, ethical debates, and inconsistent international regulations can often raise more questions than they answer about IVF, making medical tourism a popular choice for wannabe parents – both single men and women and childless couples including lesbians and homosexuals.

“The availability of donor eggs and sperms is an obvious reason why potential parents seek infertility treatments abroad,” said Renée-Marie Stephano, President of the Medical Tourism Association®. “Studies also show that shorter wait times, the cost of treatment and the success rates for conception also influence medical tourism decisions, as do the safety and standards of care that a patient should be aware when investigating any procedure.”

New technologies may have erased some prenatal health fears, but emotion can often supersede science – even in the aftermath of millions of births – as new arguments and concerns continue to surface. Take the case of single women in Serbia — like Ana Adzic – who can travel outside the country to places like Macedonia for IVF treatment; all of which is fine – if they agree to pay for it. Ana Adzic did, and connected with Denmark-based Cyros International, where she was able to add a little bit of Danish heritage to her family in exchange for big sum of money, and at no cost to the publicly funded Serbian healthcare system.

Source: medicaltourismmag.com