The growing trend of reproductive tourism gets maximum attention nowadays because of the popularity and success of assisted reproduction. The changing lifestyle, as well as social activities, prefers the changes in all aspects of life including acceptance of in-vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments included in assisted reproduction technologies. Readily available information sources give the details of best and economical assisted reproduction services. Cross-border tourism to opt best-assisted reproduction service is a current trend and naturally progressive day by day.
IVF tourism or reproductive tourism comes under medical tourism. The goal of medical tourism is to get better treatment, lack of sufficient infrastructure or clinical experts. But in the case of IVF tourism or reproductive tourism, along with attaining an improved treatment quality, local legislative restrictions, poor accessibility, and treatment costs are also considerable factors.
If we consider the IVF cost in different western countries, then it is prominent that the most expensive IVF service is in Italy, UK and Spain in compare to Russia and the USA. However, IVF cost in Georgia, Ukraine and the Czech Republic is much lower. In addition, Embryo donation is strictly not allowed in Germany, Italy, and Denmark and even pre-implantation genetic screening are partially allowed in Germany and Italy. Even insurance coverage of these countries also varies and subject to consideration depending upon the patient condition. Like in the UK, insurance coverage is allowed for females under 39 years of age, in Germany and Denmark under 40 years of age, whereas in Korea 44 years of age.
All these above-mentioned factors can be overcome by taking the advantages of IVF tourism. IVF tourism offers the individualized solution to overcome the infertility issue by opting suitable services from a specific country. For example, some countries like Korean insurance coverage allow IVF treatment only for married couples. However, this field also is facing continuous criticism. News report exposed the exploitation of poor egg donors. Eggs collected from poor egg donors and used them against the high cost.
The cross border traveling due to reproductive purposes offers the opportunity to select the country, where the intended parents can get their particular solution. Following are some positive and negative aspects of IVF tourism, which completely depend upon the smart selection of the country for opting IVF treatment.
Ravi Sharma is the director at Surrogacy Centre Georgia. And a successful pharmacist and a marketer. He loves to write about IVF, Surrogacy and other ART (assisted reproductive technology) news, issues, and updates. He is a Pharmacy graduate and M.B.A (marketing).