Ugandan baby born from frozen embryo
Nov 04, 2006
THE first baby from a frozen embryo in East and Central Africa has been born in Uganda.
By Irene Nabusoba
THE first baby from a frozen embryo in East and Central Africa has been born in Uganda.
Dr. Edward Tamale Ssali of Kampala Gynaecology and Fertility Centre in Bukoto said yesterday from his clinic that the embryo had been frozen for one year.
“It’s her own baby. She just came back for repeat IVF (Intro Vitro Fertilisation),†Ssali said of the one-week-old baby, born to an unnamed couple.
More than 300,000 babies from frozen embryos have been born worldwide since IVF was introduced in 1979.
The first baby from the longest frozen embryo of 21 years was born two years ago in the UK.
Ssali said the couple had problems conceiving and they approached him for IVF but the first attempt failed.
“She came back after one year to try again. Since we had banked her excess embryos, we just got one of them and planted it in her womb instead of undergoing the whole procedure again. The man was not involved,†Ssali revealed.
He said the procedure was not only less stressful since it was done at her own convenience but also more cost- effective because the couple paid only 50% of the costs for the IVF.
Ssali said previously, they would just throw away the embryos because there were no freezing facilities.
“But now, we have embryo banks/freezers with over 100,000 embryos that can be adopted. Our problem is the cost of freezing and storage. It’s expensive because we use special cylinders and maintain them at temperatures only found on the moon,†he said.
Ssali’s fertility centre started in 2004. It registered the first surrogate case in the region in July this year.
Ends
THE first baby from a frozen embryo in East and Central Africa has been born in Uganda.
Dr. Edward Tamale Ssali of Kampala Gynaecology and Fertility Centre in Bukoto said yesterday from his clinic that the embryo had been frozen for one year.
“It’s her own baby. She just came back for repeat IVF (Intro Vitro Fertilisation),†Ssali said of the one-week-old baby, born to an unnamed couple.
More than 300,000 babies from frozen embryos have been born worldwide since IVF was introduced in 1979.
The first baby from the longest frozen embryo of 21 years was born two years ago in the UK.
Ssali said the couple had problems conceiving and they approached him for IVF but the first attempt failed.
“She came back after one year to try again. Since we had banked her excess embryos, we just got one of them and planted it in her womb instead of undergoing the whole procedure again. The man was not involved,†Ssali revealed.
He said the procedure was not only less stressful since it was done at her own convenience but also more cost- effective because the couple paid only 50% of the costs for the IVF.
Ssali said previously, they would just throw away the embryos because there were no freezing facilities.
“But now, we have embryo banks/freezers with over 100,000 embryos that can be adopted. Our problem is the cost of freezing and storage. It’s expensive because we use special cylinders and maintain them at temperatures only found on the moon,†he said.
Ssali’s fertility centre started in 2004. It registered the first surrogate case in the region in July this year.
Ends