04 Nov 2010
IN-VITRO fertilisation (IVF) doctors yesterday reacted with shock to the mix-up at Thomson Fertility Centre, saying there are stringent checks to prevent something like that from happening.
“I’m surprised to be hearing this,” said Dr Christopher Chen, who oversaw the world’s first frozen-egg pregnancy in 1985 and is credited with the birth of the world’s first IVF triplets.
Now the director of Gleneagles IVF Centre, Dr Chen said he had never encountered a case such as this in more than 30 years of practice here and in Australia.
Dr Peter Chew, an obstetrician and gynaecologist in private practice, was surprised and dismayed. “This is bad. It should not happen. The process takes a day. Careful labelling is also done.”
Dr Yu Su Ling, director of the Centre for Assisted Reproduction at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH), said she was surprised by the news.
“I believe that all labs have very strict procedures because the guidelines come from the Ministry of Health,” she said. “It is a very meticulous process and all embryologists know they must be careful so mistakes don’t happen.”
She said that at her centre, only one couple’s specimens are worked on at any one time.
Additionally, two embryologists are present to check that the eggs and sperm are correctly matched. In total, the eggs and sperm are verified three times.
Dr Chen explained that careful labelling was the key to preventing a mix-up and the Health Ministry has guidelines that centres must adhere to very strictly.
There were 3,271 women who underwent assisted reproduction procedures in Singapore last year, including foreigners who travelled here for the treatment.
There are 10 centres providing IVF services here, three in public hospitals. The procedures have been available here for about 30 years. The number of patients seeking treatment rose after the Government introduced a co-funding scheme in 2008.
IVF treatment costs between $7,000 and $14,000. Since 2008, the Government co-funds it by paying up to $3,000 for each cycle, for a maximum of three cycles.
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Dept of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
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