Wanted in Pune: Sperm donors

Fertility centres admit there is a shortage, pin hopes on blood donation type awareness

Pune, May 7: Can I have a child who looks like my husband. He/she need not be fair. The child can be dark, but he/she should be tall. Is it possible to get such a sperm that will match my expectations...?
If you think this is an unusual query, it’s not. Fertility centres in the city often have people coming up with such a request. What’s more, they are finding it hard to match these expectations of infertile couples. The reason: Shortage of sperm donors.
And such requests come mostly from couples where the husband has a low sperm count and they have not been able to have a child.
‘‘Nearly 10-15 per cent of Indian couples face infertility, and in most cases the cause is the husband’s inadequate sperm count. There are two options available: adoption or donor insemination,’’ says Dr Padmanabh Thakar.
Along with Dr Milind Mirashi, he has extended their Cytochem laboratory to include a bank where sperm samples could be frozen and quality controlled.
Dr S Daruwala, laboratory director of Pune Fertility Centre that was set up five years ago agrees there is a shortage of sperm donors and attributes it to the lack of awareness about donating sperms.
Dr Sunita Tandulwadkar, IVF consultant at Ruby Hall Clinic, says the cause of sperm donation has to be taken up in a big way, like blood donation. ‘‘Many infertile couples cannot afford the cost of having a test-tube baby which is over Rs 50,000. Moreover, there has been a dip in the sperm count in the economically weaker sections — specially truck-drivers who spend long hours behind the hot engines. Such people take to artificial insemination,’’ Tandulwadkar claims.
The procedure for artificial insemination from a donor’s sample, doctors emphasise, is a simple one. In it, a woman whose husband has no sperms in his semen sample or has sub-fertile sperms, is inseminated with semen characteristics.
While professional sperm donors are discouraged, those who donate have to undergo a strict selection criteria, says Tandulwadkar. Educational qualifications, family background, medical history and screening for any hereditary diseases are recorded. A record of physical characteristics and blood group is maintained for matching with the recipient’s features and group blood tests for HIV, VDRL and Hepatitis B are carried out initially and repeated after 3 months, says Daruwala.
To ensure there are more donors, there has to be awareness about the physical and psychological problems of the couple under treatment. ‘‘The trauma the couples undergo and society’s attitude towards them make donors realise that the act of donating a semen sample will go a long way in bringing happiness in someone’s life,” emphasises Thakar.

The focus, doctors say, continues to be on motivating donors, so that one day, they can have enough samples to provide options to the recipient couple to choose the characteristics they want for their baby.

 

Advanced hysterectomy technique now introduced in city hospital

Saturday, October 31, 1998

PUNE, Oct 30: To avoid a painful abdominal incision and facilitate an early recovery, consultants at the Poona Hospital and Research Centre have introduced the scientifically advanced technique of laproscopic hysterectomy.
The new technique is performed using a video camera attached to a telescope. It goes into the patient's body through a small incision of 1 cm taken in the umbilicus. Three small incisions of 5 mm are made in the lower abdomen through which forceps and scissors are inserted to perform the surgery. Next, the uterus is removed through the vagina as per this technique. Abdominal hysterectomy traditionally involves the removal of the uterus through an abdominal incision.
The major advantage of the minimally invasive surgery is that it totally avoids the need for traditional surgical incision on the abdomen which is the major cause of post-operative pain, morbidity and prolonged recovery time. The patient is be discharged in 72 hours and can resume normal work after three weeks of rest.
Gynaecological endoscopist Sunita Tandulwadkar and gynaecologist Swati Anpat, who completed 40 cases of laproscopic hysterectomy, have also been awarded at the Annual Conference of Pune Obstetric-Gynaecological Society for their work in the field.

Free advice is being provided to patients on Mondays and Tuesdays between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. at Lohia Wing, Poona Hospital.

Efforts on for early identification of cervical cancer

Pune, September 29: While international research has shown that HIV positive women are more prone to cervical cancer, a study has now been undertaken jointly by National AIDS Research Institute (NARI), B J Medical College (BJMC) and Vanderbilt University to identify simple techniques that can diagnose the cancer at an early stage.
Dr Sanjay Mehendale, deputy director, senior grade, NARI and the principal investigator of the project that the US-based National Institute of Health (NIH) and National Cancer Institute (NCI) will fund the study. Dr V L Yemul, dean, BJMC and Sassoon Hospital said 300 HIV positive women will be recruited for the study.
As part of this study, a function was held at OPD number 63 at SGH where the facility of colposcopy—a diagnostic tool to determine the cause of abnormalities found in Pap smears— was provided. Dr Mohan Swaminathan, Dr Sunita Tandulwadkar, NARI director Dr Ramesh Paranjape and others were present on the occasion.
Yemul said efforts were taken to introduce more schemes and programmes as part of the diamond jubilee year celebrations of BJMC. Elaborating on the techniques that will be tested during the study are the Acetic Acid (Visual Inspection after smearing with Acetic Acid) test and a viral test for detecting the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV).
Explains Mehendale, ‘‘The VIA test will study the usefulness of the technique of smearing the mouth of the cervix with acetic acid. In case there is cancer then then there will be colour change and even a non-technical person can perform this technique in peripheral areas.’’

Dr S M Dabak, head of the department of obstetrics and gynaecology, BJMC spoke about the diamond jubilee celebrations and said an office will be set up for the Pune alumni association of the BJMC at Sassoon Hospital. Ethicon company has also assured to set up the close circuit auditorium facility apart from renovating it. Several updates have been planned on topics like diabetes, urology and cardiology.