Infertile Couples Can Have Babies Through IVF In Nigeria, Says Ajayi

Dr. Abayomi Ajayi is the Managing Director, Nordica Fertility Centre, which runs In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatment in its facilities to assist couples, especially indigent Nigerian couples, who have infertility problem. He spoke to PAUL ADUNWOKE on the subject.

Explain what is IVF and who qualifies it?
IVF is In Vitro Fertilisation, which means fertilisation outside the body, and the first baby from IVF all over the world was born in 1978, while the first baby for Nordica Fertility Centre turned 11 years on 14th of September 2015. We have assisted couples with over 1500 babies in our centre. In IVF, you have to give the woman drugs in order to produce eggs and bring these eggs together with sperm. When the embryo forms, it is transferred back into the woman in order to conceive.”

Initially, IVF was meant for couples, who have infertility problem. But now, it has been extended to many things; for instance, screening of embryos, genetic composition, and sex selection for family balance. It is the commonest thing people do, when the fallopian tube is blocked. We also use it, when sperm count is bad, when a woman is not ovulating and for infertility treatment. When one couple is affected with Human Immuno-deficiency Virus Infection (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), IVF is the best option for the woman to conceive and prevent the other partner being infected.

Are there ethical issues in IVF?
Yes, there is ethical consideration in IVF. For instance, one of the ethics in IVF is consent. The patients must know exactly what you are doing. The other aspect of ethics is the right of the child, because you are going to have a child. Is right for you to use donor’s sperm or egg? Do you need to have information of the donors? Are you going to tell the child or people that you got your pregnancy through IVF? The major ethical issue in IVF is regulation, because it must be regulated. But the issue is for us to agree on the common principles that would govern how we practice IVF in Nigeria.
On the cost, if you can buy fairly used products you can do IVF in my clinic.

What are the chances of success?
IVF success is 35 to 40 per cent. The best time to have IVF success is at the age of 35, but some time you can get success on 50 or 60 years persons. When you are above 40, the chances of success are about 10 per cent using your own eggs. But at the age of 50 or 60, you can use donor’s eggs.

The patient must be aware of using donor’s eggs therefore; if she can afford it, the doctor goes ahead. There is no age limit in IVF treatment. It is very important to start the treatment early. If you are 35 years, you start after six months of not getting pregnant, but if above 35 years, you start after one year. In my clinic, age limit is 55 because we believe one thing is to have a child and another is to raise the child up. By the time you are above 55 and your child is still very young, it is a challenge.

Some times, the husband would not get erection, which results in the infertility. But when we treat the patient, he gets erected. For instance, there was a couple we treated and the husband could not produce sperm. But the time we offered him some stout drink and some drugs, he was able to get erected and produced sperm.

In several occasions, we have had cases where the wife cannot seduce the husband. We had a case, where the husband demanded we should allow him to stay with a young lady in order for the lady to seduce him, and he produced sperm because the wife can no longer seduce him. Some wives do not dress accordingly, in order to be attractive to their husbands. Wives should not tie cloths on the waist all the time.

Communication is very important in marriage because the wife should know what pleases the husband and vice versa. Again, some people do not control their weight; it is very important to engage in exercises in order to lose weight. We have had a case, where the husband said the wife couldn’t seduce him because of being over weight.

What do you think is the reason why some people prefer to do IVF abroad?
One of the reasons is confidentiality. Some do not want people to be aware they got their pregnancy through IVF. So, they go abroad to keep the secret. People go to United Kingdom, United States of America, or India. But, as far as I am concerned, the best place to do IVF is Nigeria. We have been trying to let people see there is no need for them to go anywhere because IVF is available in Nigeria. But patients should try to go to the right centres.

If a patient did IVF and it failed would the person be required to bear the same cost again?
Yes, the person has to pay again, because we have used drugs and doctors have seen the person. IVF success is not 100 per cent. That is why it is good for you to know the success rate of the clinic you are visiting. We know it is most harrowing for the doctors and nurses. But all I know is that IVF can fail and when it fails the clinic should not be blamed.

Don’t you think this can scare patients away?
May be or may be not; any body who is afraid does not do his or her work successfully. You need not be afraid, but continue to make attempts until you achieve your dream.

What is your advise to infertility couples?
My advice is they should be patient enough and go to the right IVF clinic. They should see right people and do the right thing. Then seek help even with counseling and then leave the rest for God. But not making any attempt is not the right option. Advise for Nigerians who travel abroad?
They should do the right thing because there are lots of challenges, in traveling abroad for IVF. For instance, the patient should be away from the family and place of work. So, if you do the right thing, there is no need for you to blame yourself. We have seen cases, where people travel abroad for IVF but it failed, then come back to Nigeria and get pregnant.

Can you say we have rising cases of infertility in the country?
I cannot say it is increasing because we do not have the statistics here; but if we deduce from world statistics, it is likely to be increasing especially in women. Cases of low sperm count are increasing because we check our clinic report since 2013 and we discovered that it is increasing by three per cent every year. By 10 years it should be about 30 per cent. So, there is no doubt it is increasing.
Do you recommend any food for infertility couples that can assist them in conception?

We do not treat infertility with food, but we know that if you have infertility, you should eat healthy food. So, your body mass index should be good enough because we know obesity would make a man and woman lose the chances of conception. If you want to avoid obesity, you have to do exercise, avoid alcohol and smoking. For instance, taking of cocaine and others are very dangerous and it is very important to eat vegetable-related foods to avoid obesity.