Please go look at this site and contribute whatever you can
https://www.gofundme.com/2qxfkr3h
IVF for the poor, is it possible? My answer is yes!
Provided we start thinking out of the box.
Stop slavishly following the High-tech guidelines and regulations set in place by the wealthy sections of the society.
Stop falling in to the trap of marketing gimmicks of pharmaceutical, culture media and instrument industries.
in a modification of Parkinson's law '"work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion" " Use and indications for an ultra-sophisticated costly technology expand based on the availability of the equipment and personnel" see the number of articles published on the real indications for ICSI and what really is being done.
Understand that you get what you can pay for
Like a Motel 6 room for $40 a night VS "Mandarin Oriental" for $1500 night
Both of them give you a place to sleep.
Even the top journal Human reproduction has a stepwise price plan
for open access
"Charges for CC-BY-NC: • Regular charge: £1875/ $3000 / €2438 • Reduced Rate Developing country charge*: £938/ $1500 / €1219 • Free Developing country charge *: £0 /$0 / €0"
There is an Indian Telugu proverb
ఆకలి రుచి ఎరుగదు ,నిద్ర సుఖమెరుగదు
Which roughly translates to hunger doesn't know taste and sleep doesn't know comfort.
A Syrian refugee or a Congolese farmer will not ask which chef prepared the food, he will grab, eat and sleep where ever, as long as his hunger is satisfied and where he is safe.
Same is true of a poor rural Indian house wife, she is not worried about ESHRE guidelines. All she cares is she is able to have a child so that her in-laws do not burn her alive or ask for divorce so that they can have him married again ( even if the problem is male infertility)
Let us take “Hair transplantation” as a template to emulate
A dermatologist evaluates a person with alopecia.
After a few preliminary tests patient is scheduled for a transplant.
Under local anesthesia many a time in the office a strip of occipital scalp is cut out (harvested, in medical jargon) this is transferred to the "LAB" where a few technicians using a microscope dissect individual or groups of hair follicles (plugs).While this is going on using a template multiple small incisions are made on the bald area of the scalp.
Once the plugs are ready under the supervision of the dermatologist the technicians insert them in to the patient’s scalp.
Tell me in all of these steps which part really needs a five year medical school and a three year dermatology residency?
It is only because of the dogma and aura of high technology needed for this medical procedure and the word " transplant " which equates this to a renal or heart transplant that general public is willing to pay exorbitant prices.
If this was taught to a high school graduate in India 4 of them can easily start a hair restoration clinic where they can employ the services of an MBBS doctor for initial evaluation and general supervision and offer the same service for probably a 10th of the cost now being charged.
Similarly for low cost IVF we have a team of
1) Basic MBBS doctor ( DGO,M.D.Gyne); for initial evaluation
Who will decide what ovulation protocol to use.
2) A CNA /LVN or RN will monitor the self-administration of stimulant drugs and injections.
3) A high School graduate who undergoes 6 months to1 year training in ultrasound imaging of the pelvis, ova retrieval and embryo transfer let us call them OT/ET techs.
4) Level 1 embryologist who maintains a simple lab consisting of a microscope , stereo microscope regular incubator and tubes for ova retrieval and Belgian culture
We use a simple one step medium and the Belgian technique for IVF in a tube with co2 produced using sodabicarb (cooking soda) and citric/acetic acid (lime juice or vinegar)
I am not saying “let us demolish” The Oriental Mandarin Hotel”
I am advocating opening more Motel 6 like IVF establishments.
