‘Fertility tourism’ fears over EU move

HIGHER medical standards proposed by the EU could treble the cost of a single IVF treatment to €10,000, pushing many couple’s chances of having a baby beyond their means, a medical expert warned yesterday.

Consultant gynaecologist at the Sims International Fertility Clinic in Dublin Dr David Walsh said proposals aimed at improving body tissue removal and retention will make in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment unaffordable for the majority of couples desperate to conceive a child.

He also warned that if IVF becomes unaffordable in the EU, it will push couples to Eastern Europe, former Soviet states and the Middle East for the procedure where patients cannot be guaranteed quality of care.

Concern about the rise in ‘fertility tourism’ was voiced at a European fertility conference in Berlin this week. Dr Walsh said many people attending the conference feared if the EU proposals were made law, thousands of people would be forced to travel for cheaper treatment.

The EU proposals apply to all types of tissue removed from a body, including livers, tumour biopsies, sperm, eggs and even DNA samples, and aims to create specialist, hyper-sterile labs for any procedures involving living tissue.

While Dr Walsh said the proposals were well intentioned as they would minimise the infection of cells, he feared it would have a devastating effect on couples with infertility problems as it would treble the cost of IVF treatment, making it unaffordable to the vast majority of people and forcing them to seek treatment abroad.

“It is not in the interest of the patient to be forced to leave Europe because they cannot afford to have the treatment locally. It can compromise patient care because you cannot guarantee continuity of care,” he said.

“If you are getting medical treatment outside the jurisdiction, you have no means of accessing information about the quality of care you can expect. Many of these units are super, but the possibility exists that it maybe unregulated and conditions will be poor.

“If something goes wrong there is no continuity of care, no support locally and no one to take responsibility locally,” Dr Walsh said.

Dr Walsh was particularly concerned about the issue of hyper stimulation, a complication that arises out of IVF treatment which claimed the life of 33-year-old Dubliner Jacqueline Rushon last year.

He said that if people are concerned about high levels of fertility tourism now and the potential dangers, current levels of travel are “just the tip of the iceberg” if the EU proposals are passed.

Speaking at the fertility conference, Professor Karl Nygren said that with EU enlargement, it was vital that potential patients can compare not only prices, but also the quality and efficacy of the treatments on offer.

About 2,000 couples seek IVF treatment every year in Ireland at an average cost of €3,000 per treatment. There is a 40% pregnancy success rate. There are up to 10 centres in Ireland providing, or planning to provide, IVF treatment.