From 2014 to 2019, the Dubai Fertility Centre received 79,262 visits from couples.

Since the Dubai Fertility Centre (DFC) was established, more than 5,000 babies were born thanks to the treatments provided at the facility, the latest figures revealed. Its pregnancy rate had also gone up, reaching 67 per cent in the first quarter of the year and scoring above the international success rate of 45 per cent.

The centre, which is under the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), provides medical-assisted reproduction and fertility services and receives around 14,000 visits every year.

Hana Tahwara, director of the DFC, attributed the centre's success to the introduction of advanced fertilisation techniques and raising their work's efficiency. "This increased the centre's success rate in 2019 to 66 per cent compared to 38 per cent in 2013. Since the inception of the centre in 1991, 5,031 babies were born because of the centre's services and procedures."

From 2014 to 2019, the DFC received 79,262 visits from couples, out of which 63.6 per cent were Emiratis and 36.4 per cent were expats, Tahwara said.

Following Emiratis, the top nationalities who had been coming to the centre were from the GCC, other Arab countries, Asia, America, Africa, Australia/New Zealand, and Europe, respectively.

Many of its clients were also from abroad, travelling into the country specifically for the centre's services; thus, fulfilling the DHA's goal of bolstering medical tourism, Tahwara said.

"From 2014 to 2020, the centre performed 8,875 fertility procedures, 44,000 ultrasounds and 1,466 genetic screenings. The Dubai Fertility centre is one of the first fertility treament centres to begin providing testing services to detect genetic diseases in families that have a history of conditions such as thalassaemia or genetic abnormalities," she said.

"We also achieved a 71% success rate in embryo transfers in the first quarter of 2020 and 85 per cent success rate in freezing eggs in 2019."

In a span of five years, a total of 3,180 egg samples have been frozen. "Freezing services contribute to the treatment of delayed pregnancy and fertility problems by providing the opportunity for the couple to plan future pregnancies by using their frozen samples according to the country's laws and protocols."

This service, she explained, enables cancer patients to store their eggs before chemotherapy so that they can use it later after recovery.

Accreditation and services

The DFC has also become the first fertility centre in the region to successfully achieve a 'diamond-level' accreditation from the Accreditation Canada International (ACI) for Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) and Leadership standards. This is the highest level of accreditation awarded from ACI.

The centre also obtained a certificate of excellence for two years in a row from the Dubai Healthcare City Authority, and achieved first place, scoring 97.9 per cent and 99.29 per cent for quality assessment standards.

The Dubai Fertility Centre's services include:

> Major fertility processes: In vitro fertilisation (IVF), Intracytoplasmic sperm insemination (ICSI), intrauterine insemination (IUI), embryo transfer, ICSI for frozen eggs, ovulation induction, male infertility procedure such as Testicular Epididymal Sperm Aspiration ( TESA) and Percutaneous Epididymal Sperm Aspiration ( PESA), and embryology laboratory service.

> Gametes freezing services: freezing of semen, oocytes and embryos , and Genetic screening and diagnostic service including (DNA testing by PCR to diagnose a specific genetic disorder such as thalassemia or sickle cell anemia, Microarray DNA testing, Human leukocyte Antigen (HLA) matching, Next Generation sequencing (NGS).

> Gynaecology services and other operations services, this includes hysteroscopy and ultrasound services.

Staff Reporter

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More than 5000 babies born thanks to fertility treatments in Dubai - Khaleej Times