Lanka Hospitals IVF Centre celebrates milestone with 400th baby

By David Ebert

The Lanka Hospitals Fertility Centre celebrated yet another historic landmark when it announced its 400th successful IVF baby since the centre’s inception in 2007, with the recent birth on 22 October of twin boys to Parakrama Abeykoon and his wife. Incidentally, this is the highest number of successful deliveries by any fertility centre in the country to date.

Father of the twins Parakrama Abeykoon (third from left) addresses the media. Also present from left: Lanka Hospitals AGM Operations Dr. K.T. Iraivan, Lanka Hospitals Clinical Embryologist Dr. Madara Ralapanawe, Lanka Hospitals Consultant Gynaecologist Dr. Nishendra Karunarathne, and Lanka Hospitals CEO Lakith Peiris

Speaking at the press briefing, Lanka Hospitals Corporation PLC CEO Lakith Peiris said: “The success rate of the fertility centre at Lanka Hospitals is on par with the best IVF centres in the world. We have been able to bring joy to hundreds of couples and their families with the gift of life that they have been longing for years. The skills of our staff, the technological advancements we focus upon, the excellence in clinical care, the stringent quality standards we maintain, the commitment, dedication and our passion has contributed to our success for the Lanka Hospitals fertility centre to be amongst the best in the world. We are extremely happy and proud to have given life to the twins who marked our 399th and 400th babies and I warmly congratulate the parents.”

The proud father of the twins, Parakrama Abeykoon, an engineer by profession, told the Daily FT: “My wife and I have had a long 10-year wait for this day to finally arrive. It is the most emotional moment in my life to finally hold not only one but two children of my own. I have to thank the doctors and all the medical staff who made this experience for us a warm, comfortable and respectful experience considering the fear and apprehension I had following visits to many other clinics prior to finding out about the Lanka Hospitals fertility centre. We were ecstatic when my wife became pregnant after only six months of treatment and I have recommended the centre to three of my associates already and wouldn’t hesitate to do so to anyone who faces similar difficulties.”

Initiated and managed by Lanka Hospitals Clinical Embryologist Dr. Madara Ralapanawe, the centre was built at a cost of Rs. 75 million in 2007 and is

From left: Consultant Gynaecologist Dr. Nishendra Karnaratne, Parakrama Abeykoon and his wife with the twins, and Clinical Embryologist Dr. Madara Ralapanawe

equipped with only the highest quality international standard equipment and materials and the most stringent quality processes implemented in order to achieve the high 43% success rate. The centre also boasts a dedicated IVF theatre, bar-coded patient sample and data records to ensure accuracy and a storage system that maintains samples at the same temperature of the human fallopian tube which minimises sample loss.

Dr. Ralapanawe added: “The team is a dedicated, efficient unit which is essential to run a fertility centre such as ours. The skill level and the knowledge base of the staff is the main reason behind the centre’s high success rate and the culmination of this is that today we meet again with our ‘gorgeous 400’ twins. The quality of our service, the positive word-of-mouth reputation we have gathered as well as the reasonable cost of the procedures have attracted many international couples from the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Maldives and the Middle east in addition to a number of Sri Lankans with the hopes of starting a family. I believe that the parent’s happiness is our true achievement and I am fortunate to be able to see this every day.”

The centre’s team of highly skilled and specialised doctors, gynaecologists, embryologists, endocrinologists, urologists, and radiologists are available 365 days a year and is the only centre in the island that performs IVF cycles seven days a week, instead of in batches. The team, headed by Obstetrician and Gynaecologist Dr. Nishendra Karunaratne, together with Clinical Embryologist Dr. Madara, carries out all the required procedures in a state-of-the-art clinical environment.

The event concluded with the presentation of savings certificates of Rs. 50,000 each to the twins, Yomal and Yoshitha Abeykoon, sponsored by Bank of Ceylon and Lanka Hospitals.

Pix by Upul Abayasekara