The IVF babies
The first ever twins through In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) have been delivered at UQ Hospital – a private medical facility in Takoradi in the Western Region.
IVF is a process whereby an egg is fertilized by a sperm outside the body of a woman. The process involves monitoring and stimulating a woman’s ovulatory process, removing an egg from the woman’s ovaries and letting sperm fertilize it in a liquid in a laboratory.
The successful delivery of the babies – male and female – happened on Saturday, February 9, 2019, and according to an Obstetrician Gynecologist, Dr. Samuel Agyeman, more mothers are expected to deliver through the same method at the centre in the coming weeks.
The babies, together with their mother (name withheld), were doing well when journalists visited the centre on Saturday.
Dr. Agyeman, who took the journalists through the processes, said IVF is the most effective form of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART).
He said the process is affordable and urged couples with fertility problems to take advantage and make their dreams of having babies realised.
“Since this has been successful, we are going to deliver the rest in the coming weeks and we want others to benefit from the technology and it is very affordable.
“As you can see, the babies are doing very well and these are healthy babies like any other,” Dr. Agyeman indicated.
He pointed out that earlier in the Western Region, there were no health facilities to conduct such processes and so interested couples were usually referred to major cities like Accra and Tema.
“But thank God UQ Hospital now has such technology here in Takoradi, and had been successful in our first case,” Dr. Agyemang announced.
The mother of the twins who could not hide her joy expressed thanks to God and the staff of UQ Hospital, especially Dr. Samuel Agyemang, for the happiness they had brought to her and her husband.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi