News Letter of Kiran Infertility Centre, Hyderabad, India- August 2012 Edition.

In our continuous endeavor to improve transparency with all our Patients including Intended Parents who have been successful with us, Intended Parents who have enrolled with us and who are in process of enrolling, In April 2012, we had decided to Publish Monthly News Letters and our first news letter was published. These letters are published monthly and are sent to all our Patients through e-mail, and are posted in our Face-book page. Accordingly we are happy to release the August Version.

According to Dr. Samit Sekhar- Chief Embryologist & Executive Director of KIC, "through this News Letters we intend to provide all the information about the latest happenings in the clinic and these letters will also serve as a medium for information of latest happenings in the field of IVF and Surrogacy.

Dr. Samit Sekhar further adds, "the main aim for publishing such news-letters is to work in a more transparent manner and to see that we are continuously in touch with all our Intended Parents of past and present, successful or unsuccessful.

This letter will introduce clients to various employees working with KIC, helping the parents realize their dream of having their own baby.
It will list out different kinds of initiatives being taken at our centre to continuously improvise and provide our clients with better services.

In this edition we have introduced our new Case Manager in Australia, Ms. Lydia, who will be helping the Intended Parents based in Australia. Also Mr. Felix Yang from Canada is the Parent of the month; you can find his interesting story from his childhood till him being a parent.

For Original article, click here >>

UK Consulate Opens in Hyderabad, India

Announcement about opening of UK Consulate in Hyderabad, this will make exit process of all Intended Parents from UK more convenient.

HYDERABAD, India – February 29th , 2012 — Sai Kiran Hospital, a unit of the Kiran Infertility Center Pvt. Ltd.(KIC) based in Hyderabad India. In our continuous endeavor to update all Intended Parents across the Globe with the latest happenings in field of International Surrogacy and Cross Border Medical Tourism we would like to update the Parents about the Latest Development in KIC and field of Immigration and Exit Visa Stamping Formalities.

We continuously try to update ourselves with the latest happening in the field of Surrogacy in all parameter's Medical or Non- Medical and intend to provide better service to clients by reverse integrating all the related Medical and Non Medical Services in one Loop. Hence we have designed a Surrogacy Package that meets all the needs of Intended Parents, the only thing our Intended Parents need to take care is about catching a flight and coming to Hyderabad Airport. After landing we ensure that our Patient is taken care of. We are continuously improvising at our end to make the journey of our Intended Parents to Parenthood smoother, safe, shorter, informative and more fascinating and thereby an unforgettable experience.

Also as a change in process! From now, Intended Parents from United Kingdom travelling to take their babies back to their Home Country hopefully will not require to visit New Delhi for processing of passports or travel documents for their New Born.

Until Now Intended Parents from United Kingdom had to travel to Delhi to visit the High Commission in New Delhi to process for Citizenship and Travel Document for their New Born baby/ babies.

United Kingdom has announced about opening of its consulate in Hyderabad on Thursday 31st May 2012 making it the only country to have a consulate in all southern states except Kerala.

For now, the consulate – to be headed by a deputy high commissioner - is expected to work out of a city hotel before it moves to a permanent address. The UK consulate would bring the city closer to realizing its London dream which has to otherwise route its visa applications through the consulate office in Chennai.

The consulate is set to place Hyderabad firmly on the global travel map, which the city has been figuring in over the last few years particularly after the international airport at Shamshabad came up. The city already has direct connectivity to UK with a daily British Airways flight to London. The flight reports more than 80% occupancy on most days, say official sources. Frequent flyers in the city hope that the consulate's presence in Hyderabad would connect city airport to more destinations in UK. Consulate offices often act as confidence boosters among travelers from their home nations, who feel comfortable visiting a city that has their consulate office. The consulate presence would also better people to people contact and an increased opportunity for state residents to avail of the various fellowships and scholarships of the UK government.

According to Dr. Samit Sekhar, Chief Embryologist and IVF & Surrogacy Program Director, Kiran Infertility Centre, this will be an added advantage to all the parents who will be travelling to our facility for pursuing various treatments for Infertility as hopefully they do no longer need to go to Delhi to procure Passports/ Travel Documents to their new-born, they will be able to get them processed here in Hyderabad and this will also help in reducing the time of stay for Parents Post Birth by approximately 3 to 4 days.

The address is as follows: 

British Deputy High Commission, Hyderabad
Room No. 150, 1st floor,
Taj Deccan Hotel,
Road No.1, Banjara Hills,
Hyderabad 500034
Phone: +91-40-6666-9147/ 9148,
Emergency out of Hours number: +91-(0)11-2419-2100
Fax: +91-40-6666-9149
Website: http://ukinindia.fco.gov.uk
Office hours: 0830 - 1630 Monday to Thursday
0830 - 1330 Friday

Thinking about Fertility Treatment Dealing with infertility is a complicated journey of options and decisions.

Infertility Treatment has come a long way in the last 30 odd years ever since Louise Brown was born on 25 July 1978. Her parents, Lesley and John Brown, had been trying to conceive for nine years. They faced complications of blocked fallopian tubes and underwent what would later become known as IVF/in vitro fertilization, a technique developed by Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards. Edwards won 2010 Nobel Prize in Medicine for this work. Although the media refers to ivf as "test tube baby procedure", conception actually takes place in a Petri dish and this mainly involves working with human gametes which is a challenging job which very few people around the world are trained to do.

Infertility means not being able to get pregnant after one year of trying. Or, six months, if a woman is 35 or older. Women who can get pregnant but are unable to stay pregnant may also be infertile. According to various studies conducted across India 20%-30% couples face some kind of infertility related issues at some point of time in their lives.

Causes of Infertility in Women

1. Failure to Ovulate

a) Hormonal Problems

Failure to produce mature eggs: In approximately 50% of the cases of anovulation, the ovaries do not produce normal follicles in which the eggs can mature. Ovulation is rare if the eggs are immature and the chance of fertilization becomes almost nonexistent. Malfunction of the hypothalamus: The hypothalamus is the portion of the brain responsible for sending signals to the pituitary gland, which, in turn, sends hormonal stimuli to the ovaries in the form of FSH and LH to initiate egg maturation. If the hypothalamus fails to trigger and control this process, immature eggs will result. Malfunction of the pituitary gland: The pituitary's responsibility lies in producing and secreting FSH and LH. The ovaries will be unable to ovulate properly if either too much or too little of these substances is produced.

 b) Scarred Ovaries

Physical damage to the ovaries may result in failed ovulation. For example, extensive, invasive, or multiple surgeries, for repeated ovarian cysts may cause the capsule of the ovary to become damaged or scarred, such that follicles cannot mature properly and ovulation does not occur. Infection may also have this impact.

c) Premature Menopause

Some women cease menstruation and begin menopause before normal age. It is hypothesized that their natural supply of eggs has been depleted or that the majority of cases occur in extremely athletic women with a long history of low body weight and extensive exercise. There is also a genetic possibility for this condition.

d) Follicle Problems

Although currently unexplained, "unruptured follicle syndrome" occurs in women who produce a normal follicle, with an egg inside of it, every month yet the follicle fails to rupture.

 2. Causes of Poorly Functioning Fallopian Tubes

a. Blocked fallopian tubes Infection

Caused by both bacteria and viruses and usually transmitted sexually, these infections commonly cause inflammation resulting in scarring and damage. Genital Tuberculosis: It is one of the commonest chronic/long standing infections which results in Blocked fallopian tubes and is often overlooked.

b. Abdominal Diseases

The most common of these are appendicitis and colitis, causing inflammation of the abdominal cavity which can affect the fallopian tubes and lead to scarring and blockage.

c. Previous Surgeries

This is an important cause of tubal disease and damage. Pelvic or abdominal surgery can result in adhesions that alter the tubes in such a way that eggs cannot travel through them.

d. Ectopic Pregnancy

This is a pregnancy that occurs in the tube itself and, even if carefully and successfully overcome, may cause tubal damage and is a potentially life-threatening condition.

e. Congenital Defects

In rare cases, women may be born with tubal abnormalities, usually associated with uterus irregularities.

3. Endometriosis

This condition is characterized by excessive growth of the lining of the uterus, called the endometrium. Growth occurs not only in the uterus but also elsewhere in the abdomen, such as in the fallopian tubes, ovaries and the pelvis. The symptoms often associated with endometriosis include heavy, painful and long menstrual periods, urinary urgency, rectal bleeding and premenstrual spotting. Sometimes, however, there are no symptoms at all, owing to the fact that there is no correlation between the extent of the disease and the severity of the symptoms.

4. Behavioral Factors

It is well-known that certain personal habits and lifestyle factors impact health; many of these same factors may limit a couple's ability to conceive. Diet & Exercise, Smoking and Alcohol are some of the major reasons.

5. Environmental and Occupational Factors

The ability to conceive may be affected by exposure to various toxins or chemicals in the workplace or the surrounding environment.

Causes of Infertility in Men Lifestyle

• Smoking - significantly decreases both sperm count and sperm cell motility.

• Chronic Alcohol abuse.

• Anabolic steroid use - causes testicular shrinkage and infertility.

• Overly intense exercise - produces high levels of adrenal steroid hormones which cause a testosterone deficiency resulting in infertility.

• Inadequate vitamin C and Zinc in the diet.

• Tight underwear--increases scrotal temperature which results in decreased sperm production.

• Exposure to environmental hazards and toxins such as pesticides, lead, paint, radiation, radioactive substances, mercury, benzene, boron, and heavy metals.

• Malnutrition and anemia.

• Excessive stress.

Hormonal

• Hyperprolactinemia: Elevated Prolactin-Greater elevations of the hormones may result in reduced sperm production, reduced libido and may result in impotence.

• Hypothyroidism: Low thyroid hormone levels may cause reduction of quality of semen, poor testicular function and may disturb libido. This may be caused due to a diet high in iodine.

• Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia: This condition occurs when the pituitary is suppressed by increased levels of adrenal androgens. Symptoms for this include low sperm count, an increased number of immature sperm cells, and low sperm cell motility.

• Hypogonadotropic Hypopituitarism: Low pituitary gland output of LH and FSH. This condition arrests sperm development and causes the progressive loss of germ cells from the testes and causes the seminiferous tubules and testosterone producing cells to deteriorate.

• Panhypopituitafism: Complete pituitary gland failure-This condition lowers growth hormone, thyroid-stimulating hormone, and LH and FSH levels. Symptoms include: lethargy, impotence, decreased libido, loss of secondary sex characteristics, and normal or undersized testicles.

Hormonal

• Variocoele: This is an enlargement of the internal spermatic veins that drain blood from the testicle to the abdomen (back to the heart) and are present in 15% of the general male population and 40% of infertile men.

• Damaged Sperm Ducts: Seven percent of infertile men cannot transport sperm from their testicles to out of their penis.

• Torsion: Is a common problem affecting fertility that is caused by a supportive tissue abnormality which allows the testes to twist inside the scrotum and is characterized by extreme swelling.

• Infection and Disease: Mumps, TB, Brucellosis, Gonorrhea, Typhoid, Influenza, Smallpox, and Syphilis can cause Testicular Atrophy.

• Klinefelter's Syndrome: Is a Genetic Condition in which each cell in the human body has an additional X chromosome--men with Klinefelter's Syndrome have one Y and two X chromosomes. Physical symptoms include peanut-sized testicles and enlarged breasts.

• Retrograde Ejaculation: Is a condition in which semen is ejaculated into the bladder rather than out through the urethra because the bladder sphincter does not close during ejaculation.

Assisted Reproductive technology/techniques

Intrauterine insemination (IUI) is an infertility treatment also called artificial insemination. This treatment is prescribed when there is a mild male factor infertility or when women have problems with their cervical mucus.

Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART):

The main concept here is of removing eggs from a woman's body and these eggs are then mixed with sperm of a male to make embryos. These embryos are then cultured for 2 to 5 days in specialized compartments called as Incubators and put back in the woman's uterus thereby resulting in a successful pregnancy. ART has helped many couples conceive which otherwise would not have been possible.

About the Doctor:

Dr. Pratima Grover is a consultant at the Kiran Infertility Centre, Hyderabad, India (KIC). She has trained in Reproductive Biology at the Cleveland Clinic, U.S.A., one of the top most Infertility Centre's across the globe. She is a Post Graduate in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

TREATMENT FOR INFERTILITY

Male Treatment Options

• Sexual Issues: In this case doctors help men deal with impotence or premature ejaculation through behavioral therapy and/or medicines.

• Antibiotics also are used to clear up infections affecting sperm count.

• Too few sperm: In such cases the main cause of the problem can be treated through surgery

• Sperm movement: Sometimes blockage in Man's System results in no Sperm in Semen.Surgery is one of the options to correct the problem.

• In vitro fertilization/intra cytoplasmic sperm injection are advanced techniques to help deal with poor sperm count and motility

Female Treatment Options

In women,physical problems can be corrected with the help of surgery.There are number of fertility medicines that are used to treat women with ovulation problems.It is very important to talk to doctor about the effects and side effects of these Medications.

For Original article, click here >>

India Based Infertility Clinic Announces Presence in US.

Sai Kiran Hospital, a unit of the Kiran Infertility Center (KIC) based in Hyderabad India is planning an informational meeting that will introduce their US Client Coordinator. The meeting will take place at the Empire Hotel in NY, NY on 12/10/2011. The agenda for this meeting will familiarize Intended Parents from the US on the option of surrogacy in India . This meeting will also see a congregation of more than 20 intended parents who have successfully accomplished their dreams of parenthood. This date marks the 4 year anniversary of KIC's presence in the field of international surrogacy with the 200th baby being born through surrogacy for clients. This meeting will be used as a platform for past, present and future clients to share their experience and learn more about the international surrogacy process with KIC.

KIC has a surrogacy program of international clientele of more than 500 intended parents from 21 different countries across the Globe. KIC has been the most successful Indian Facility providing this service for last 2 Years with the maximum number of births. KIC is committed to provide affordable services to clients with the latest trends in Infertility Treatment with our Team of Experts.

Dr. Kiran D. Sekhar is an eminent gynecologist and obstetrician. Under her leadership and guidance the clinic has helped more than thirty thousand couples achieve pregnancy. Dr. Naresh Sekhar , a male infertility specialist has more than 30 years experience and has furthered medical education in the field of infertility. Dr. Pratima has trained in the US at the Cleveland Clinic and manages day to day activities of obstetric and gynecological counseling and care of patients. Dr. Samit Sekhar is the clinic's Chief Embryologist and Director of the Supra Sperm bank. He is in charge of overall maintenance of the IVF lab, as well as being involved in day to day patient interaction and counseling.

The informational seminar taking place in December of this year is to clear the apprehensions about surrogacy in India and to introduce our newest team member based out of Seattle, WA. "We intend to build trust with our clients, especially those based in the US by having the presence of a US based case manager," said Dr. Samit Sekhar , Chief Embryologist at KIC.

Media Contact
A. Thomas
Kiran Infertility Center
(206) 788-6036
alexis@kiranivfgenetic.com

No Sex please, we are busy........!

Many affluent urban couples are choosing to make babies not in the bedroom but in the laboratory. Is Aldous Huxley's Brave New World finally here? Varuna Verma finds out.

Priya Shenoy had it all planned out. The 30-year-old Hyderabad-based doctor finished her post graduation in paediatrics a year ago. She planned to work for two years and then go abroad for higher studies. And she wanted her personal life to be in sync with her professional one.

"I wanted to have a baby one year before I started my doctoral studies," says Shenoy. She tried to conceive the natural way - but gave up in two months. "It was not suiting us," she recalls. Both Shenoy and her doctor husband work long hours. When they return home, they are too tired to tango. "We kept postponing it from one night to another. Soon the pressure started building," she says.

So Shenoy got technology to come to their aid. She opted for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment earlier this year, got pregnant in the first shot and is expecting a baby soon.

Like Shenoy, many working women in urban India are no longer making babies in the bedroom. Instead, they are opting for fertility treatment. "I get five women patients every month who want fertility treatment for lifestyle reasons, not medical ones," says Samit Shekhar, chief embryologist, Kiran Infertility Centre, Hyderabad. Most of these women are between 30 and 32 years of age, work long hours and rarely get to spend quality time with their spouse, he adds.

As young Indians increasingly live life on the fast lane, and the mouse seems to have replaced the spouse, fertility treatments are just what the doctor ordered for them, believes sociologist G. K. Karanth. "Urban society has become accomplishment- driven and people are living life in an accelerated mode. They want quick money, quick success and a quick baby," he says. Also, with increasing individualism, emotional intensity has reduced in relationships. "Making a baby in the bedroom or the laboratory is all the same thing," says Karanth.

Making a baby in the bedroom is a hit and miss affair and can take up to a year. Most women don't have that much time any more. Many of her patients have slotted a time for the baby, after which they want to get on with their jobs.

A patient, Shruti Mishra, who wanted an IVF because she had a few relaxed months at work. An IT professional, Mishra was waiting for a promotion. She had a few months to spare before the work pressure built up. So she wanted to have a baby quickly. Mishra opted for an IVF and became pregnant within a month.

Again, like Mishra who was touching 33, a lot of women delay pregnancy nowadays. When they finally decide to have a baby, they are in a hurry. They don't want to spend months trying to conceive normally.

It is a fact that technology scores over nature when it comes to the success rate for conceiving a baby. The success rate of conceiving naturally is seven per cent. Women have a fertile period of four days in a month. If they are traveling, working late hours or are under any stress, it gets wasted. On the other hand, there is a 50 per cent chance of conceiving through IVF and a 25 per cent chance through intrauterine insemination (IUI).

Last month, Suresh and Swati Gupta - a Mumbai-based pilot couple - approached a doctor for IVF treatment. Preliminary tests showed both were healthy and could conceive naturally. They were counseled to relax, take time out for each other and have a baby without technical support. But they turned down the suggestion. Both had hectic work schedules and did not meet often. They said they did not want to go through the psychological stress of trying to have a baby the normal way. Swati got an IVF done and is now pregnant.

And these artificial methods are not too expensive either. Intrauterine insemination, for instance, costs between Rs 5,000 and Rs 20,000. It is a 15-minute job. It needs no anaesthesia and no hospitalisation. The IUI procedure involves taking the semen from the man, washing it and placing it in the reproductive tract of a woman on the day she is ovulating. The IVF procedure is more expensive - one cycle of IVF costs about Rs 1.5 lakh. Increasing awareness and a high success rate have made IVF a popular treatment.

So are healthy, fertile women seeking artificial means to conceive even in the West? Perhaps not in as great numbers. It's easier to get an IVF treatment done in India. In the West, a woman cannot opt for IVF until she has tried to conceive naturally for one year.

Many career women are also freezing their fertility for later use. The procedure is called Oocyte Vitrification. "Women can freeze their eggs and use them later, when they decide to have a baby," explains Shekhar of Kiran Infertility Centre. Till five years ago, the procedure, which costs between Rs 80,000 and Rs 1 lakh, was only used to save the eggs of women undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. But now many healthy women are opting to freeze their eggs simply because they want to postpone pregnancy.

"I get half a dozen enquiries a week," says Shekhar. He recently performed the procedure on a 31-year-old ramp model, Shikha Iyer, who planned to have a baby five years later. "Iyer was in the prime of her career and didn't want a pregnancy to come in the way," recalls the embryologist.

As for those who do want a baby right away, work stress often stands in the way. In 2003, a study was conducted on the sexual habits of 1,920 software professional couples in Bangalore. It was found that 27 per cent of men and 18 per cent of women suffered from sluggish libidos. After a long day at work, many couples are not interested in sex.

If the patient is biologically able to conceive, she is counseled to take a break from work, do regular exercise, try relaxation techniques and spend time with her spouse, explaining that this will help her to conceive quickly and naturally.

But relaxing is no longer an easy thing to do for young couples. Most women say they can't afford to take time out to relax before they have a baby. For them, an IVF procedure is simply the more hassle-free option.

For Original article, click here >>

Outsourcing Pregnancy

Doree Shafrir has contributed to The New York Observer, The New Yorker, Slate, and The Awl, and is the co-author of Love, Mom. She is a former editor at Gawker. Her website is www.doreeshafrir.com.

Indian surrogacy is now a half-billion dollar industry. Doree Shafrir on why American couples-especially gay men-are having children abroad for less money and with fewer headaches.

Mike Griebe and Brad Fister had tried everything to have a child. They explored adoption. They researched what Griebe termed "a baby factory type deal," where you basically pay for a "ready-made baby." They went to agencies that promise to find babies in the United States. The Kentucky couple even paid $20,000 to a Virginia woman to be a surrogate, only to walk away when she insisted that if anything happened to Griebe, 38, and Fister, 30, that she would have rights to the baby.

"You get to see the whole process. I got to watch the embryos go in. Those are things you never get to see here. You follow them the whole way."

Then, one day, while watching Oprah, they heard about a relatively new way to have a child: using an Indian surrogate. But at first, Griebe and Fister didn't think an Indian surrogate would be an option. "We just dismissed it because when we searched it, we found that that clinic would only deal with traditional couples," says Griebe-meaning straight couples. After searching online, they came across the Web site for Kiran Infertility Center, which guides foreign couples through the process of hiring a surrogate mother in India.

After talking with Dr Samit, a prominent embryologist in India, "We felt very comfortable with him, unlike everybody else we had dealt with after that time," says Griebe.

The two decided to use Fister's sperm for the pregnancy, and so he flew to India. Fister met his surrogate who, he says, is married with two children and told him the money she's making from the surrogacy will go toward her children's education.

Fister says he was surprised at how open the clinic was. "The whole process was a lot more hands-on than it would be in the U.S.," he says. "You get to see the whole process. I got to watch the embryos go in. Those are things you never get to see here. You follow them the whole way." After one failed attempt and one miscarriage, their surrogate is now due in April. They get updates, including ultrasounds, via email.

"I flew to India and checked out all the clinics," he said, before finally settling on Kiran. Commercial surrogacy was legalized in India in 2002, and it is now estimated to be a $445 million business. Griebe and Fister say they've spent around $40,000 on the surrogacy process so far; $8,000 of that goes directly to the surrogate mother. That may seem high, but Griebe said that friends of theirs who are attempting to use an American surrogate "are two years into this and still no baby, not even a miscarriage, and they're already over $100,000. Every time they try, they have to pay."

Kiran Infertility Center is one of the few to specifically target gay couples. Homosexuality was only decriminalized in India in July; even though it was rarely prosecuted, it was still a social taboo until a few years ago, says Dr. Samit Sekhar, the embryologist at the Kiran Infertility Centre in Hyderabad. "For us, it doesn't make any difference," he says of the couple's sexual orientation. However, the surrogate "doesn't know if she's carrying for a gay couple or not." He said that Kiran has delivered 24 babies via surrogates, with around nine of those going to gay couples.

It's illegal for surrogates to be recruited directly by the hospital. Instead, they're found by a social worker at an NGO, according to embryologist Samit Sekhar. (When asked if it would be possible to interview one of the social workers, Sekhar said that they do not speak English.) "They do the initial counseling for us. Then after the basic counseling is completed and the screening is done, they bring them to the clinic. Then we do more screening from there," he says, including medical and psychological screening.

"A year ago, I would have said it was very difficult to recruit a surrogate," says Sekhar. "Now it is becoming much more open. They get a decent amount of money. They get free food, free boarding, and free clothes, and they are housed in a nice place" for 12 months.

Sekhar says that Kiran can house up to 50 surrogates at a time. "They stay at the clinic. The non-pregnant surrogates are housed in an apartment," he says. "There are two midwives who stay in the clinic 24 hours a day, who take care of food, clothing, medication and all that."

Of course, using Indian surrogates raises ethical issues. An article in a recent issue of the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics called into question some of the assertions by clinic operators and surrogacy agencies regarding the women who are surrogates. The practice of keeping the women at the clinic, ostensibly to oversee their health and welfare, can also be interpreted as keeping them held hostage, since they're not allowed to leave the grounds of the clinic. The surrogates are often poor and illiterate, raising questions about how much they understand about the contract they're signing-including what happens if they have health complications or have to terminate the pregnancy because of their own health concerns. There are also questions about what would happen if the parents decided they didn't want the baby.

But it's difficult for Westerners to understand the way that the money the surrogates get changes their lives-and how it would be nearly impossible for them to earn as much money in such a short amount of time doing anything else. An engineer would earn the same amount in the same amount of time. They are happy with the money. It opens up a lot of windows for them at the same time. They can now lead a comfortable life, according to Indian standards at least. They can invest the money in a business, buy a small property. They can send kids to school or college.

Fister plans on being in India for the baby's birth; he's anticipating that he'll have to stay there for about three weeks after the baby is born, during which time he'll submit to a DNA test to prove he's the father and get a birth certificate issued by the American Embassy. "People think you're doing it in India because it's less expensive," says Fister, "but the main reason we went to India is because of the legal issues. Here, there would always be the chance of the mother coming back and saying, I'd like to have visitation. Over there they can actually have it legalized."

Doree Shafrir has contributed to The New York Observer, The New Yorker, Slate, and The Awl, and is the co-author of Love, Mom. She is a former editor at Gawker. Her Web site is www.doreeshafrir.com.

For Original article, click here >>

Swanky airport puts Hyderabad on world's surrogacy map [Hyderabad]

HYDERABAD : When the swanky Rajiv Gandhi International airport came up in March, 2008 at Shamshabad, real estate wasn't the only sector that soared. Hyderabad's mid-sized health centres offering infertility treatment also surfaced on the world surrogacy map, with direct flights to the city being an enabling factor.

So, while commercial surrogacy was legalised in India in 2002, the surrogacy scene in Hyderabad started picking up only over the last two years, with many couples from across the globe landing in the city, seeking wombs. Until a couple of years ago, childless couples from abroad were heading either to Gujarat or India's two most connected cities - Delhi and Mumbai. The presence of embassies in the two major cities also helped.

But cases started spilling over to Hyderabad with packed infertility centres in Mumbai and Delhi unable to meet the growing demand, and the presence of a modern airport in Hyderabad helped the trend.

The surge in demand has largely been facilitated by agencies working in various parts of the globe showcasing India as the safest destination to rent a womb and get a child, at a reasonable price. Three reasons why people started looking east for surrogacy - top quality equipment, favorable pricing and hassle-free procedure, wherein the surrogate mother would not surface to claim the child. Most importantly, India is the only country apart from US where surrogacy is legal and unlike US, it's affordable too.

Cashing in on these factors are agencies that have come up not just in US and UK but also in Israel, Spain and Turkey that have contacted specialists in India. Among the agencies directing couples to Hyderabad include, Planet Hospital, which has tied up with city-based Kiran Infertility Centre and helps ironing out the creases that a journey to India may entail.

Among the first agencies to have come up was Planet Hospital that showcased India's medical tourism option to clients abroad. Their services are priced between $40,000 to $ 60,000 which includes air fare, hotel stay and the cost of the medical procedure including the surrogate mother's fee, which is in the range of Rs 3 to Rs 4 lakh.

While the widespread notion that India's surrogacy industry is worth $ 500 million, city doctors correct the figure stating that it is only about 10-20 per cent of that amount. About 500 people seek surrogates every year in the country and spend an average amount of $30,000, including medical cost, they explain. While Hyderabad may still not be the first choice of destination in most cases, it is picking up.

"Hyderabad has an international airport, so better connectivity. It has five star hotels and sight-seeing options, along with good doctors and good infertility centres," says Dr Samit Sekhar, embryologist with Kiran Infertility Centre.

The increasing numbers notwithstanding, doctors say it is not yet the boom period for surrogacy in Hyderabad. Dr Roya Rozati, who heads Maternal Health & Research Trust, says that finding surrogate mothers in Hyderabad is not as easy. "Our society is different from Gujarati society. We are still very conservative," she says.

Nevertheless, registered medical practitioners from surrounding city areas contact infertility specialists with details of potential surrogate mothers. Some women wanting to rent their wombs have also uploaded their profiles on the internet giving a brief description of their age, health, height and weight indicating they are fit to carry babies for couples

While these women, carrying babies of other couples, are taken care of by the hospital, a few now promote family surrogates. This, say observers, is to counter rights activists who believe the trend is turning women in India into baby factories. Clearly, an interesting chapter in the country's medical tourism story.

For Original article, click here >>

Move over techies - there is a new area in which India is achieving prominence in the area of outsourcing!

Now this is not a field of outsourcing that we, as diaspora Indians living in our adopted homelands or those who live in India, would feel that we would want to brag about! But it does show a combination of resourcefulness, economic necessity and old fashioned entrepreneurship!

So what is this new field? I don't know if you will be as surprised as I was but it is in providing surrogacy services! Yes, Indian women are functioning as surrogate mothers for Western couples who want children.

Why do they seek the services of Indian women for this purpose? It is a combination of lower cost and relatively liberal laws which make India a haven for this purpose. The cost aspect is self-explanatory - it is cheaper in India than in the US and presumably other countries in the West. The legal issues are more interesting: first, there is little risk that the surrogate mother in India will claim custody of the child and the other factor, quite surprisingly, is that Indian law is more receptive to gay couples using the surrogate services of Indian women without potential legal complications.

There is a fascinating article in "The Daily Beast" that outlines the story of a gay couple who used the services of an Indian woman as a surrogate mother. Here are some excerpts from the article:

Mike Griebe and Brad Fister had tried everything to have a child. They explored adoption.

They went to agencies that promise to find babies in the United States. The Kentucky couple even paid $20,000 to a Virginia woman to be a surrogate, only to walk away when she insisted that if anything happened to Griebe, 38, and Fister, 30, that she would have rights to the baby. Then, one day, while watching Oprah, they heard about a relatively new way to have a child: using an Indian surrogate. After searching online, they came across the Web site, for Kiran Infertility Center, that guides foreign couples through the process of hiring a surrogate mother in India.

The two decided to use Fister's sperm for the pregnancy, and so he flew to India. Fister met his surrogate who, he says, is married with two children and told him the money she's making from the surrogacy will go toward her children's education.


Fister says he was surprised at how open the clinic was. "The whole process was a lot more hands-on than it would be in the U.S.," he says. "You get to see the whole process. I got to watch the embryos go in. Those are things you never get to see here. You follow them the whole way." After one failed attempt and one miscarriage, their surrogate is now due in April. They get updates, including ultrasounds, via email.

Commercial surrogacy was legalized in India in 2002, and it is now estimated to be a $445 million business. Griebe and Fister say they've spent around $40,000 on the surrogacy process so far; according to the clinic, $8,000 of that goes directly to the surrogate mother. That may seem high, but Griebe said that friends of theirs who are attempting to use an American surrogate "are two years into this and still no baby, not even a miscarriage, and they're already over $100,000. Every time they try, they have to pay.

Kiran Infertility Center is one of the few to specifically target gay couples. Homosexuality was only decriminalized in India in July; even though it was rarely prosecuted, it was still a social taboo until a few years ago, says Dr. Samit Sekhar, the embryologist at the Kiran Infertility Centre in Hyderabad. "For us, it doesn't make any difference," he says of the couple's sexual orientation. However, the surrogate "doesn't know if she's carrying for a gay couple or not." He said that this year, Kiran has delivered 24 babies via surrogates, with around nine of those going to gay couples.

Now here is where my "desi" antenna went into high alert mode. It had to do with this next passage and anyone who has lived in India would probably react the same way:

It's illegal for surrogates to be recruited directly by the hospital. Instead, they're found by a social worker at an NGO, according to embryologist Samit Sekhar. (When asked if it would be possible to interview one of the social workers, Sekhar said that they do not speak English.) "They do the initial counseling for us. Then after the basic counseling is completed and the screening is done, they bring them to the clinic. Then we do more screening from there," he says, including medical and psychological screening.

"A year ago, I would have said it was very difficult to recruit a surrogate," says Sekhar. "Now it is becoming much more open. They get a decent amount of money. They get free food, free boarding, and free clothes, and they are housed in a nice place" for 12 months.

Of course, using Indian surrogates raises ethical issues…………..the surrogates are often poor and illiterate, raising questions about how much they understand about the contract they're signing-including what happens if they have health complications or have to terminate the pregnancy because of their own health concerns. There are also questions about what would happen if the parents decided they didn't want the baby. It's difficult for Westerners to understand the way that the money the surrogates get changes their lives……….. "They are happy with the money. It opens up a lot of windows for them at the same time. They can now lead a comfortable life, according to Indian standards at least. They can invest the money in a business, buy a small property. They can send kids to school or college."

Fister plans on being in India for the baby's birth; he's anticipating that he'll have to stay there for about three weeks after the baby is born, during which time he'll submit to a DNA test to prove he's the father and get a birth certificate issued by the American Embassy. "People think you're doing it in India because it's less expensive," says Fister, "but the main reason we went to India is because of the legal issues. Here, there would always be the chance of the mother coming back and saying, I'd like to have visitation. Over there they can actually have it legalized."

For Original article, click here >>

Fertile biz! Handsome money chases educated egg donors

HYDERABAD : Going through a financial crunch, 26-year-old HR professional Ramya (name changed) recalls logging on to the internet to research a suggestion her friend had made- that of donating her egg to a couple undergoing infertility treatment. Overcoming the initial apprehension, the commerce graduate, who is a single parent of a six-year-old, decided to take the plunge.

Not only was it "not wrong'' as she says repeatedly, but also a quick route to quick money. She signed up with a city clinic and after clearing the mandatory medical tests and psychological screening she donated her eggs last month for Rs 35,000. For couples planning that perfect child, egg donors who are educated and working were rare once. And for working women like Ramya, donating eggs was never even a remote option to raise money. But now the profile of the egg donor is changing. If they were from poor socio-economic backgrounds until recently, now educated and working women have surfaced as egg donors, although they too are driven essentially by a financial need.

Specialists say that such egg donors command a higher remuneration, as much as Rs 50,000 for their one-time donation. And in one case, where a US-based couple sought an egg donor in a city clinic, they paid a handsome $2,000, since the donor was an attractive fashion designer.

Oocyte donors, as egg donors they are called in medical terminology, are much in demand, but those with good height and complexion and having good intelligence level are greater in demand with couples with deep pockets seeking to tailor-make their babies. If an actress in her mid-30's sought an egg donor who was drop dead gorgeous, another Indian couple wanted a Caucasian egg donor.

Citing the above examples, embryologist Dr Samit Sekhar of Kiran Infertility Centre says that some couples insist on height and weight of the donor while some stress on education if they themselves come from a highly educated background. And unlike in the past when people got their own egg donors, in 75 per cent cases, people now want anonymous egg donors. This, doctors, say is to avoid any hassle with the known donor in the future.

For Original article, click here >>

June is Pride Month!

It has been a busy month for me! June is Pride month and KIC had an exhibitor booth this year for the first time at Pride in San Francisco. It was my idea to give it a try and see what happens. I know pride is more of a party, but to attend the biggest second pride celebration in the world (behind Brazil) I thought why not give it a try.

I arrived in San Francisco on Friday late afternoon and was planning on taking it easy until later that evening when I met with potential clients. Unfortunately that is not the way things worked out. Being in such a rush to get to grab my bag, catch the train and get to my hotel I accidentally left my banners behind at the airport for the booth over the weekend. It wasn't until I was well along my train ride that I realized this. Once off the train I called the airport and airline lost and found with no luck. I was so upset as I literally had just gotten one of these banners made that morning in Seattle. I called the local office of the company used, but they were not able to help me. I was frantic, so I rushed to a Kinko's location. Luckily they were able to assist in getting me a temporary banner made until my nicer ones showed up. What was supposed to be a relaxing evening with a few clients then turned into me running around getting my temporoary banners made. By the time the end of the evening rolled around I was exhausted.

After the banner craziness I was able to meet up with my two client appointments for dinner. There was one couple and one single who had previously inquired about our services and lived in the area, so I invited them out. We went to dinner in my hotel and were able to talk about our program and all the services we provide. It was a great for me to get the opportunity to meet potential clients in person as I don't get to do that all the time. Most of the time I am only able to Skype or talk on the phone with clients, so I always jump at the opportunity to meet them in person. We talked about everything from the surrogates and their screening process to donors and what each is looking for. It was good to know that these potential clients had also spoken to some of our current and past clients. I think overall the meet and greet was a great success and I look forward to working with those clients in the future.

Saturday had arrived and I was up early doing last minute preparations for the start of the Pride festivities. I still had no word on my banners from the airport so I had to roll with the temporary ones. I get down to the event area around 9:30 as they wanted us set up by 10 AM. I have my booth #, but looking at the map provided was not helping. I asked about 4 different people who all just kept pointing me in the general area, but not really assisting me which was becoming very frustrating. Finally I make my way to the exhibitor volunteer booth where they were able to assist me (Jennie was my lifesaver)! I got set up to start the day not really knowing what to expect. It was a gorgeous day out and we had a great location, but I still wasn't sure what to expect and how people would react to our booth and what specific services we offered. A lot of people just read the sign and walked by while others asked what type of business we were specifically. Overall the day went well and I had about 4 genuinely interested people come and talk to me. Sunday was a little busier (the news said they expected 750k people to attend Pride). The best part was that I rec'd a phone call from the airlines on Saturday late afternoon that they had found my banners and were able to courier them over to my hotel. Sunday was warmer and busier in terms of the Pride festivities. By days end I had another handful of people who were interested in learning more about our clinic.

I saw overall it was a good move for KIC to attend Pride in San Francisco. We had recently just been featured in Advocate Magazine for our surrogacy program, so to get back in front of the people was great. Some people had read the article, so we were already some what familiar to them. I think if we decide to attend next year I would like to get something to hand out. People love free stuff whether it be pens or Pride necklaces or whatever. It is a great way to get the name of the clinic out there and have people walking about to your booth, even if it is for the free stuff (at least we would be getting them in our booth). I have a few pictured of the booth that I wanted to share.

For Original article, click here >>

Excerpts from the media coverage of Kiran Infertility Center

Designer babies, with an Indian twist

By Saritha Rai

Created September 21, 2010 06:43

Subhead:

More and more Indians want egg donors, but only if they're from the right caste.

A baby swings in a hanging basket in in Chandigarh, India, on March 27, 2010. (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

BANGALORE, India - The couple was particular: the egg donor had to be under 25, fair, beautiful and educated. But most of all, she had to belong to their caste.

In India, cutting-edge medical treatments for infertility are colliding against age-old biases about the social order.

Welcome to designer babies, with an Indian twist.

In this developing country of more than 1.3 billion, fertility treatments are a flourishing business.

According to the Mumbai-based Indian Society of Assisted Reproduction, its member clinics across India conducted an estimated 18,000 cycles of IVF treatments last year, averaging a 30 percent rate of pregnancy. But the group said that only half of India's fertility centers count themselves among its members, making the total number of IVF treatments sought last year much higher.

What makes IVF treatments particular to India, though, is that many infertile couples demand egg donors and surrogate mothers of a particular caste and sub-caste when they seek in vitro fertilization treatments or surrogacy services.

"Couples are very particular about the caste hierarchy of the prospective mother or even the surrogate carrier," said Ramana Rao, an agent in India's southwestern port city of Vishakhapatnam.

Rao recruits egg donors and surrogates to-order for childless couples and fertility clinics in cities like Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore. In contrast to the West, where medical fitness is often a key criterion for choosing egg donors, in India medical checks are done after the family is convinced about the donor or surrogate's caste background.

Caste is India's ancient system denoting a person's social standing - with the Brahmins at the top of the heap and the Dalits at the very bottom. Despite much modernization and sizzling economic growth, caste still denotes class in many parts of India and continues to touch vital aspects of life, such as marriage and politics.

India's constitution bans discrimination on the basis of caste and community. The county's last caste-based census was in 1931.

However, the Indian government's attempts to enumerate people by caste in the ongoing gargantuan census - and the controversy surrounding its efforts - proves that caste is still relevant. Those supporting the caste-based poll say it will help the government identify and target social welfare schemes to the lower rungs of the social ladder.

Among younger, urban Indians caste is increasingly a non-issue and the old social order is slowly disappearing, only to vigorously reappear in unlikely places like fertility clinics.

"Alongside looks, skin color and height and education, prospective couples look for egg donors of the same caste and religion," said Dr. Samit Sekhar, an assisted reproduction specialist in the eastern city of Hyderabad.

In Mumbai too, couples ask for similar family background. "Family background" is often the euphemism for seeking out particular castes and sub-castes that number in the hundreds in India's byzantine social system.

A good-looking egg donor of a higher caste could command anywhere between 50,000 rupees (about $1,100) to 100,000 rupees (about $2,200) whereas down the caste ladder, the prices could dip to 20,000 rupees (about $430), Rao said. He has enlisted and provided the services of 70 egg donors and 150 surrogates so far.

In Mumbai, India's commercial capital, the prices can go higher to 200,000 rupees (about $4,300). Donors are usually from poor economic backgrounds as are the surrogates. None was willing to be interviewed for this article.

Sociologist Carol Upadhya at the Bangalore-based National Institute of Advanced Studies says caste is ingrained among many Indians as that which preserves the purity of the race. "They feel caste is rooted in the body, in the genetic material," she said.

Even the highly educated want specific genes because they want to pass on the caste and community genes to their future generations, Rao said.

"Prospective parents openly advertise for egg donors and surrogates by caste in the classified sections of local newspapers," he said.

Such advertisements, listed by caste and sub-caste, are staples of the matrimonial sections in India's biggest newspapers.

For Original article, click here >>

Kiran Infertility Centre in Eight Annual NY Surrogacy Seminar and Expo by Men Having Babies

Presence of Kiran Infertility Centre as an exhibitor presenting its Surrogacy program to the participants of Eight Annual NY Surrogacy Seminar and Expo by Men Having Babies to be held on September 22, 2012 from 10:30 AM - 4:30 PM.

We wish to inform that Kiran Infertility Centre is participating in Eight Annual NY Surrogacy Seminar and Expo by Men Having Babies to be held on September 22, 2012 from 10:30 AM - 4:30 PM as an exhibitor for promoting and introducing its International Surrogacy Program. Doctors and representatives from Case Management Team of KIC will be present in the seminar. According to Dr. Samit Sekhar, Chief Embryologist and Surrogacy and IVF program Director, KIC "We offer our Surrogacy Program to Couples, Gay and Single Parents from all across the world and there are many Single Parents and Gay men from USA who have had a baby through our International Surrogacy Program". Demographic of Gay Parents and Single Parents is a substantial portion of KIC's clients all over the world and we value them as one of the most important patients and we continuously try to improvise at our end to ensure that their Surrogacy Journey with us is more comforting and an experience to remember.

Dr. Samit Sekhar further adds that, KIC'S Team will be there to speak to Intended Parents Single, Gay Parents as-well as Straight Couples who are interested in having a baby through Surrogacy in India. We will be providing counseling sessions and informational brochures to event attendees who are interested in Surrogacy. This brochure will have detailed information about KIC'S Surrogacy Program. According to Dr. Samit Sekhar, Our intention here is to register our presence in the event and introduce event attendees to our Program and inform them about how they can work directly with us in India to realize their long cherished dream of Parenthood. It is to spread more awareness about Kiran Infertility Centre's Surrogacy and Egg Donation Program, to make the attendees notice that how it is beneficial to work with Hospitals directly rather than so called Medical Tourism Agencies and how Medical Tourism Agencies Operations in India are termed Illegal.

Dr. Samit Sekhar further adds that, in our Surrogacy and Egg donation Program, we have included all Medical & Non Medical Services into a single package. By reverse integrating the processes required in one's journey towards parenthood through Surrogacy in India, through this program we intend to provide a safe, comfortable and hassle free journey to our Intended Parents. He has extended his personal invitation to all our Intended Parents from Past and present to come to our booth. You can find out more about the seminar on its website: Men Having Babies - NYC 2012

The address is as follows:

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center,
3rd Floor, 208 West 13th Street,
New York, NY 10011.

RSVP: if you are coming! You can mail us at info@kiranivfgenetic.com

You can also pre-register for the event here: http://www.menhavingbabies.org/surrogacy-seminars/ny-2012/registration/

Link: http://www.menhavingbabies.org/surrogacy-seminars/ny-2012/

Clarification from Kiran Infertility Centre about article in the daily mail Dated- 31st Aug 2012!

Clarification from the Hospital & Surrogate Mother on Article in Daily Mail on titled Our 'rent a womb' child from an Indian baby farm: British couple paying £20,000 for a desperately poor single mother to have their child" published on 31st Aug 12

There is a sustained campaign being carried out by the British press particularly the daily mail tabloid against Surrogacy in India,according to Sai Raj Jaiswal,Legal Adviser to the KIC,Hyderabad,India.this is very evident in the article published in Daily Mail on titled Our 'rent a womb' child from an Indian baby farm: British couple paying £20,000 for a desperately poor single mother to have their child" published on 31st Aug 2012. Link to the article is as below.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2196538/Our-rent-womb-child-Indian-baby-farm-British-couple-paying-20-000-desperately-poor-single-mother-child.html

He states that the article is malicious, negative, erroneous, false and contains derogatory remarks about the Surrogate Mother, Medical Facility, City of Hyderabad, India as a Country. It is a sponsored and is aimed at painting a Negative Picture of Surrogacy Treatment in India.

Few of the points listed in article are.

1) (British Couple), a middle-class Oxfordshire housewife, admitted the £20,000 deal sounded 'cold and clinical' but insisted: 'This is a business transaction.'

2) Describing the surrogate mother as 'just a vessel', the 34-year-old former estate agent added: 'There is no altruism involved on the surrogate's part: she is being paid to have our baby'.

3) They know she is 31 and has children of her own. They know her name, and that for reasons not explained — perhaps she has been widowed or deserted — she has no husband.

4) For the duration of her pregnancy she will live with other surrogates, away from her home and family, in a primitive dormitory within the clinic. It goes without saying that she is desperately poor.

5) The British Couple have not been told how much their surrogate will earn from the £20,000 cost of the treatment — clinics are loath to specify sums — but estimates range from £3,000 to £6,000.

6) 'There is no altruism involved on the surrogate's part: she is being paid to have our baby. It's a contractual arrangement.

7) India's burgeoning surrogacy industry — there are about 1,000 clinics providing surrogates for 'fertility tourists' — has been compared to a baby factory in which children are made-to-order for affluent couples who often use donated eggs and sperm to create their baby, and an Indian donor to carry it, choosing everything from their baby's eye colour to its height.

8) Impoverished cities like Hyderabad

9) Around 2,000 births to surrogates took place in India last year, and Britain supplies the largest number of clients — estimates suggest as many as half are from the UK. The fact that just 100 surrogate births were recorded in Britain last year puts the scale of the Indian operation into perspective.

These statements are derogatory in nature and were made without any proof. No effort was made by anyone from Daily Mail to verify these facts. Neither the Parents featured in the article nor the Journalists from Daily Mail bothered to meet the Surrogate Mother or visit the facility. Details mentioned in the article about number of Patients from UK Visiting India and other such details are not verified and were added just by hearsay.

According to Mr.Jaiswal, facilities provided to surrogate mothers in India are at par with the facilities available in most of the middle class households in India. The nutrition, nurture, care and medication provided to Surrogate Mothers is at par with the highest quality of such care only available to elite few.

Surrogate Mother for featured couple, who has had to face the brunt of the article, has had a very good upbringing, is from a lower middle class family. She is educated and can understand, write, and read in English. Women are ready to become Surrogates not just for money but to improve the circumstances in which they and their family currently live in, at times to secure their child's education, at times to pay for health concerns of their immediate ones, at times to fulfill their dreams of owning a house and a farm plot.

Surrogate was anguished and devastated when she saw the article. Her first reaction was "All of us at times work for someone or other, in work places all of us feel that our bosses are using us to gain profits and do not care about our well being. But no one likes to be called a slave or vessel in person and this has happened to me in Media"

When these issues were brought to the notice of the Publisher as-well as the Parents and the surrogate demanded for an unconditional apology, instead of apologizing to the Surrogate Mother and the facility for this article they have offered the surrogate one more article which they state will cover the positive side of the story, one more TV Documentary and a 1000 pound pay off to the surrogate by the daily mail to keep her mouth shut

When a clarification was sought from one of the journalists of the article, through her hotmail e-mail id we have received a response as quoted below.

"I have met many surrogates in India, although I have not made it to your clinic yet. I learnt from your clinic that you have felt offended by certain words used in the article. I want to apologise if those words have upset you at all."

She further adds on "The emotions that British Couple is feeling and quoted are obviously very personal" & "British Couple's quotes were her personal very raw feelings"

Further she adds "newspapers always need to accommodate their reader, so they use words which suits their style of writing." "Myself as a writer, and the featured British Couple as the interviewees have no say on the headline used."

Further on seeking clarification from the Featured Parents. Their replies were as anticipated.

Initially they tried to express their inability to confront the Publisher's "I'm afraid we have no ability to persuade the Daily Mail paper as to what to say." "We have not been fairly represented by the whole experience;"

Further added on "our experience with surrogacy and the Kiran Infertility Centre has been an overwhelmingly positive experience to date. Unfortunately for us all, this message has not come across clearly in the initial article published in the Daily Mail on Saturday 1st September." "We are devastated that the Daily Mail article has caused such upset. We certainly did not think it would be hard hitting headline news"

As a last resort we were lured for another article stating the quoted lines in one of the e-mails "I personally believe the best way to overcome this is not to fight it in a legal manner and with threats sent to journalists - I'm certain this will have no positive outcome in the UK. I'm sure you already know of the reputation of the UK press. I've also taken the advice of a number of PR professionals in the last 2 days to understand the options available to us. I can assure you, that their consistent advice is not to fight it, but to try and use the attention gained to tell a story. Fighting the UK press is not something that I nor you should want to embark upon as the results are highly unlikely to be positive."

"The angle of the article was not our intention at all and I hope you can see the sensationalism in the article – a result of the story becoming headline news. I understand you had provided facts and figures, but still your quotes have been contorted and you must appreciate the same thing has happened with our interview."

Through this press release we intend to bring the false hood and lies mentioned in this article to fore and to ensure that such incidents are not repeated in future. We also would like the parties involved to apologize to the Surrogate Mother who has been at the receiving end of this article. We are also thankful to all the readers of the article who have voiced their views about the negativity of this article on the website of daily mail.

For Original article, click here >>

Excerpts from the media coverage of Kiran Infertility Center!

American couples, especially gay men, are having children abroad for less money and with fewer headaches, and India, it seems, has emerged as the ideal surrogate mom destination, according to a report.

According to the report appearing in the website www.thedailybeast.com , Indian surrogacy is now a half-billion dollar industry.

It mentions the case of Mike Griebe and Brad Fister, who tried everything to have a child. They explored adoption. They researched what Griebe termed "a baby factory type deal," where you basically pay for a "ready-made baby." They went to agencies that promise to find babies in the United States.

The Kentucky couple even paid 20,000 dollars to a Virginia woman to be a surrogate, only to walk away when she insisted that if anything happened to Griebe, 38, and Fister, 30, that she would have rights to the baby.

Then, one day, while watching Oprah, they heard about a relatively new way to have a child: using an Indian surrogate.

At first, Griebe and Fister didn't think an Indian surrogate would be an option. "We just dismissed it because when we searched it, we found that most clinics would only deal with traditional couples," says Griebe -meaning straight couples. After searching online, they came across the Web site for KIC - Kiran Infertility Center, that guides foreign couples through the process of hiring a surrogate mother in India.

After talking with Dr Samit, a prominent embryologist in India, the two decided to use Fister's sperm for the pregnancy, and so he flew to India. Fister met his surrogate who, he says, is married with two children and told him the money she's making from the surrogacy will go toward her children's education. Fister says he was surprised at how open the clinic was.

"The whole process was a lot more hands-on than it would be in the U.S.," he says. "You get to see the whole process. I got to watch the embryos go in. Those are things you never get to see here. You follow them the whole way." After one failed attempt and one miscarriage, their surrogate is now due in April.

They get updates, including ultrasounds, via email. "I flew to India and checked out all the clinics," he said, before finally settling on Kiran Infertility Center. Commercial surrogacy was legalized in India in 2002, and it is now estimated to be a 445 million dollar business.

Griebe and Fister say they've spent around 40,000 dollars on the surrogacy process so far. According to the Clinic, 8,000 dollars goes directly to the surrogate mother. Kiran Infertility Center is one of the few to specifically target gay couples.

Homosexuality was only decriminalized in India in July; even though it was rarely prosecuted, it was still a social taboo until a few years ago.

It's illegal for surrogates to be recruited directly by the hospital. Instead, they're found by a social worker at an NGO, according to embryologist Dr. Samit Sekhar. "A year ago, I would have said it was very difficult to recruit a surrogate," says Sekhar. "Now it is becoming much more open. They get a decent amount of money. They get free food, free boarding, and free clothes, and they are housed in a nice place" for 12 months.

Sekhar says that Kiran can house up to 50 surrogates at a time. "They stay at the clinic. The non-pregnant surrogates are housed in an apartment," he says.

For Original article, click here >>

Kiran Infertility Center Joins the Medical Tourism Congress!

The Medical Tourism Association would like to welcome the Kiran Infertility Center as an Exhibitor at the 4th World Medical Tourism & Global Healthcare Conress held October 25-28th in Chicago, IL!

The Kiran Infertility Center provides the latest updated technology and expertise, with the help of world class equipment and personalized care for making each patients dream come true. KIC has made phenomenal progress in the Super-Specialty of Surrogacy and Infertility treatments. They have exchange of information and expertise with some of the leading Surrogacy and Infertility centres in the world. Thus, there is a constant flow of information on the recent advances in treatments at KIC, which ultimately helps patients attending the center by providing access to new technologies which are only available to only a select few.

For Original article, click here >>

KIC Expansion into the US!

This is my very fist time blogging. I thought I would give it a try in hopes to expand my knowledge of marketing, but also help in building the brand of the Kiran Infertility Center in Hyderabad, India.

My first few months have been dedicated to obtaining egg donors. Having been an egg donor myself previously this is quite simple for me. I am familiar with the process inside and out. However, finding girls who want to travel to India to donate has proven to be a bit more challenging. For every ad I post I get roughly 10 to 15 inquiries, but only receive 2 applications back. I am not sure if young women are intimidated by the length of the application or by the fact that they would have to travel to India if selected. Either way it is my job to help them understand more about India and what a great place it is to travel.

The next big task I have is building the brand here in the US. We at the Kiran Clinic are planning a kick off event on December 10th, 2011 in New York City. This event will be open to press and those who are interested in learning more about our services. I have reached out to so many hotels looking for the best rates, but winter in NY isn't cheap. Also communicating with my team who is across the globe makes for a difficult turn around on decisions. We have the ad purchased and the date set, so hopefully we will pick a great hotel and be ready to move ahead. We hope that after this event in NYC peoples apprehensions about traveling to India for surrogacy will be eased.

One final task that I have as the new US Consultant for the Kiran Infertility Center is obtaining new clients. Reaching out to those who are looking at IVF and surrogacy options overseas. I help with talking to new clients who reach out to us on our website and answering their questions. I have to start bringing in new clients on my own. I have started with attending networking events in my local area, however I am brainstorming on what else I can do.

This is my challenge overall and I hope this blog serves as a learning tool for me and anyone else who happens to read it.

For Original article, click here >>

World Medical Tourism Congress in Chicago!

Check out some of my photos from the World Medical Tourism Congress in Chicago last week. It was the first time the Kiran Infertility Center joined this convention. It was a great networking tool along with a learning tool. I also got to meet my co worker from India for the first time, Anjani. We had only ever emailed or talked on the phone, so it was nice to discuss ideas in person.

The baby in the photo is one that was born through surrogacy at KIC. You can also see her brother in the background. It was awesome to introduce babies from our clinic to those interested. I am really starting to love my work!

For Original article, click here >>

NYC Surrogacy Seminar Recap!

It has been a while since I posted last, but due to the holidays it has been busy. The KIC 1st Annual Surrogacy Seminar took place on December 10th, 2011 in New York City at The Empire Hotel. It was a great success attended by an estimated 50 people. It was a chance for potential clients to meet past clients and their babies born through surrogacy. We had a few reporters attend, but I have yet to see anything published. Overall it was a great start to this now annual event. I wanted to share a few photos with you as well.


Enjoy!



For Original article, click here >>

New Communications - KIC

It is already Feb, so time has been flying in 2012. In the new year KIC will be launching many new forms of communicating with clients and potential clients.

First we will be launching a newsletter in February. This will be another form of communication to clients about what is happening at KIC. The newsletter is set to cover:

New Clients and their story
Clients and donors who have already traveled to Hyderabad
Interview donors who would like to be highlighted
Pictures of new babies born at KIC
Highlighting staff members at KIC
news regarding surrogacy laws around the world.

We also are planning on attending conventions around the US to build awareness of our clinic. These conventions include medical tourism conventions as well as LGBT conventions. With growing approval of gay marriage these conventions will be a great opportunity to let people know about our surrogacy program.

Finally I received a photo from my team members in India that has all the babies born via surrogacy at our clinic in the month of January. Check it out!

For Original article, click here >>

First Positive Pregnancy Test

Today I received a call from one of my clients about their trip to the clinic in India. She had received the update that her surrogate had a positive pregnancy test. She was so grateful and so appreciative of all the help I had provided. It is still early, but it was a really great feeling to hear the nice things she had to say. This is the first time I have received this call from a client. I hope there are many more calls/emails like this from clients. It just makes all the hard work we do seem so worth it.

In other news I have started working on a newsletter for the clinic. It should be launching before the end of the month. I am also working on redesigning some marketing materials and looking into website redesign. Many exciting things going on for KIC this year. I am so excited to be a part of it. We will also be attending some additional conventions this year. A few that are more business to business, but others that are business to consumer. With same sex marriage on the cusp of being passed in WA State there could be some more opportunities to spread the word about KIC to my local audience. I think overall I would like people to know that you don't need to use an agency or middle man to work with a clinic overseas. I feel like these agencies lead people to believe that they need them, but it is so not the case. It would be ideal for one day to have them eliminated and people can work directly. All the agencies do is raise the rates on people, which in this economy is not needed.

That is all for now, but look forward to hearing more about positive pregnancy tests for surrogates for other clients. I am always sending well wishes out to all my clients. It is such an exciting time.

For Original article, click here >>