DUBAI // Couples should look beyond a fertility clinic’s success rate before signing up for an in-vitro fertilisation scheme, and avoid cut-price deals, doctors warned.
Couples would “get what they pay for” and should prepare for a significant financial commitment if they want the IVF treatment to be successful, said doctors at a Dubai Health Authority event marking International Family Day.
Couples who conceived children through treatments at the Dubai Gynaecology and Fertility Centre revealed their experiences there.
Moldovan Oxana Josan, a resident of Ras Al Khaimah, arrived in the UAE nine years ago with her husband, Andrei Ianovici. After trying to conceive naturally for five years and suffering a miscarriage, they turned to medical science.
“We have spent almost US$50,000 (Dh183,645) on the treatments but it has been worth it,” Ms Josan said. My children are like treasure to me. The process was very stressful, taking hormones is damaging and it changes you.
“When it is not successful the first time, it is very stressful.
“You are always afraid to lose the children, or that there will be problems.”
The couple managed to produce twin girls – Victoria and Arina – more than a year ago.
In vitro fertilisation is considered one of the most effective fertility treatments. It involves retrieving the woman’s eggs from the ovaries and fertilising them outside the body. The embryo is cultured for up to five days before being transferred to the uterus.
Infertility affects between 8 and 16 per cent of couples. The major causes include sperm abnormalities, tubal obstruction, endometriosis, ovulatory disorder and unexplained infertility.
Multiple pregnancies are more common in cases involving in-vitro fertilisation but complications can ensue, said Dr Styliani Andronikou, laboratory director and consultant embryologist at the Dubai Gynaecology and Fertility Centre.
“If some clinics are pushing their success rates they can encourage multiple pregnancies and that is not always safe or healthy,” she said.
“The pregnancy is more risky and the mother is more vulnerable to gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia or premature birth.
“We want to get couples pregnant and more babies look good on our statistics, but it is not something we would do if it is unsafe.”
Mariam bin Zayed, 37, an Emirati in Dubai, delivered twins Aisha and Omar two years ago after undergoing fertility treatment at the centre.
She said it was a stressful experience and that she was found to have endometriosis, a painful uterus disorder.
“As soon as I was married I began trying for a baby, for six years,” she said. “It was difficult to conceive naturally.
“Everyone was saying I had to be a mother, and there was a lot of pressure.
“I knew it was more important to be healthy. I had an operation with the doctor and everything changed.
“When I found out I was pregnant, I could not believe it. I never thought it would happen.”
The Dubai Gynaecology and Fertility Centre opened in 1991.
The centre has delivered more than 4,200 babies using assisted reproductive technology, a success rate of 62 per cent, above the international average of 52 per cent.
Of those births, 100 babies were born to Emirati couples who chose the Amal Initiative, a Dubai Health Authority-sponsored fertility treatment for nationals with fertility problems, which was launched in 2013.
“There is a big demand for IVF treatment in Dubai,” said Dr Wael Ismail, medical director of the Dubai Gynaecology and Fertility Centre.
“The most important thing in our practice is quality but, like in any successful service, there is the temptation to cut corners and use cheaper offers to conceive.
“That can cause problems. You get what you pay for.”
nwebster@thenational.ae
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Tips for taking the metro
- set out well ahead of time
- make sure you have at least Dh15 on you Nol card, as there could be big queues for top-up machines
- enter the right cabin. The train may be too busy to move between carriages once you're on
- don't carry too much luggage and tuck it under a seat to make room for fellow passengers
The major Hashd factions linked to Iran:
Badr Organisation: Seen as the most militarily capable faction in the Hashd. Iraqi Shiite exiles opposed to Saddam Hussein set up the group in Tehran in the early 1980s as the Badr Corps under the supervision of the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The militia exalts Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei but intermittently cooperated with the US military.
Saraya Al Salam (Peace Brigade): Comprised of former members of the officially defunct Mahdi Army, a militia that was commanded by Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and fought US and Iraqi government and other forces between 2004 and 2008. As part of a political overhaul aimed as casting Mr Al Sadr as a more nationalist and less sectarian figure, the cleric formed Saraya Al Salam in 2014. The group’s relations with Iran has been volatile.
Kataeb Hezbollah: The group, which is fighting on behalf of the Bashar Al Assad government in Syria, traces its origins to attacks on US forces in Iraq in 2004 and adopts a tough stance against Washington, calling the United States “the enemy of humanity”.
Asaeb Ahl Al Haq: An offshoot of the Mahdi Army active in Syria. Asaeb Ahl Al Haq’s leader Qais al Khazali was a student of Mr Al Moqtada’s late father Mohammed Sadeq Al Sadr, a prominent Shiite cleric who was killed during Saddam Hussein’s rule.
Harakat Hezbollah Al Nujaba: Formed in 2013 to fight alongside Mr Al Assad’s loyalists in Syria before joining the Hashd. The group is seen as among the most ideological and sectarian-driven Hashd militias in Syria and is the major recruiter of foreign fighters to Syria.
Saraya Al Khorasani: The ICRG formed Saraya Al Khorasani in the mid-1990s and the group is seen as the most ideologically attached to Iran among Tehran’s satellites in Iraq.
(Source: The Wilson Centre, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation)
