Nawaloka Hospital Fertility Centre marks 4,000 milestone

Friday, 1 February 2013 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Couples wanting to conceive are more likely to succeed if they start planning to have children before the age of 35 years. Further, chances of conceiving also improve if a couple is aware of the woman’s fertile period and age factors.

However, the odds of conceiving are also significantly reduced by environmental factors, including an unhealthy lifestyle, primarily as a result of smoking and excessive alcohol consumption, as well as stress, bad diet and diseases such as diabetes.

As such, the Nawaloka Hospital Fertility Centre recommends that couples, where the female is under 35 years, should try to conceive for a period of at least one year, and, if the female is over 35 years, should try to conceive for about six months. If this fails, couples are advised to visit a centre specialising in assisted reproductive techniques, of which there are now several in Sri Lanka.

Opened in 2004, the Nawaloka Hospital Fertility Centre has treated over 4,000 couples to date, with an overall success rate that ranges between 30 per cent and 45 per cent, which is in keeping with international norms. In addition, the Nawaloka Hospital Fertility Centre offers the most modern technology for In Vitro Fertilisation along with other assisted reproductive techniques. Further, the centre also features a highly specialised fertility team comprising local as well as foreign gynaecologists and embryologists.

They are also supported by a dedicated team of female doctors, nurses and paramedics, all in place to guarantee couples have the best service and outcome, along with the strictest confidentiality. As a result, sub-fertile couples no longer need to travel abroad for fertility treatments since Nawaloka Hospital Fertility Centre now offers all the advanced and latest treatment facilities available in other countries. With more than 400 beds and 600 visiting medical consultants, Nawaloka Hospital is the largest local private hospital in a single location, which is also the country’s first fully fledged private healthcare institution, opened in 1985 with only 100 beds. The hospital was responsible for the well-being of over 1.5 million patients in total during the 2011/2012 period, during which it also carried out close to 15,000 surgeries.