When Dr Firuza Parikh came back from the US to set up India's first private in vitro fertilisation (IVF) centre at Mumbai's Jaslok Hospital in the early '90s, her colleagues at the Yale School of Medicine were stunned: "Infertility in India?"
But over the years the queue outside her clinic kept getting longer. With about 10-15 per cent of Indians facing fertility problems, Parikh has delivered over 5,000 babies through assisted reproduction. Parikh, the director at the department of assisted reproduction and genetics, Jaslok, has just come out with a book to help young, hopeful parents conceive. Extracts from an interview:
Q: Why is infertility becoming a big issue in urban India?
A: Urban India suffers from what I call "voluntary infertility". A lot of couples have demanding jobs, they come back home exhausted, perhaps eat take-away food from fast-food outlets and drop off to sleep-to be functional the next day. This is a story that I hear from couples regularly. Also a lot of educated women defer marriage till they can afford a maid, a driver, a three bedroom flat. By the time they reconcile to the thought of having a baby their biological clocks have already slowed down. Then they have to make a baby "happen."
Q: Is male infertility a serious threat?
A: It accounts for 40 per cent of all infertility, primarily due to sperm defects. Sometimes this is brought on by external factors like tight innerwear, very hot baths, smoking, exposure to radiation and toxic chemicals. Sometimes there's a physiological basis-diabetes, hypothyroidism or genetic aberrations.
Q: What about infertility in women?
A: I see many young women who show signs and symptoms of polycystic ovaries, a condition associated with metabolic disorders and obesity. From job pressure to vehicular pollution, postponing parenthood to sexual liberation, fast food to sedentary lifestyle, all have been linked to infertility.
Conception Timeline
A: woman's fertility peaks between age 27 and 34. That's the best time to have the first baby. The best time to get pregnant? Watch out for the narrow window of time during ovulation, two weeks into the menstrual cycle. The life of a human egg is about 36 hours, while a sperm can survive in a woman's body for about 48 hours.
30% more chances of conception every month if a couple engages in unprotected sex at least three times a week.
Myth : Daily sex increases chances of pregnancy
Reality : No it doesn't. It may, in fact, bring down sperm count on the day of ovulation.
Source: The Complete Guide to Becoming Pregnant. Dr. Firuza R. Parikh. Random House India. 2011
Reproduced From India Today. © 2011. LMIL. All rights reserved.