When a couple finds out they have infertility issues, they are often concerned with the financial impact of going through treatment like IVF.
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However, The Fertility Centre in Auburn Street, Wollongong is dedicated to providing some of the most affordable IVF treatments in Australia, which makes starting the family you’ve always wanted within reach.
Fertility specialist, obstetrician and gynaecologist, Dr David Greening, who leads the centre said, “We use an outpatient model of IVF which offers a high standard of treatment at reasonable prices.
“The Centre is one of eight in Australia and is backed by IVF Australia.”
Dr Greening previously worked at a high cost IVF facility but left that to open The Fertility Centre three years ago.
“I saw that IVF was financially out of reach for many local patients. The Fertility Centre has a really good model where we can offer IVF treatment for almost a quarter of the out of pocket costs of a full service IVF clinic,” he said.
“The Centre has achieved excellent pregnancy rates, all equal to any standard IVF unit, and we are pleased to have welcomed 200 babies since it opened.”
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The Fertility Centre is able to keep costs down by keeping a standardised approach to treatment, making it more affordable, while still getting the same egg numbers, embryo freezing rates and excellent pregnancy rates as standard, expensive IVF.
If couples require more complex IVF, the services of IVF Australia can be used. However, The Fertility Centre is hoping to expand in the future to cover all these aspects of IVF.
“Cost plays a big factor in IVF success – it’s not rocket science. The lower the cost is, the more cycles of IVF a couple can afford which increases their chance of getting pregnant,’’ Dr Greening said.
“Traditionally the number of people accessing fertility treatment has been governed by their ability to pay the high price for it and we want that to change.
‘‘There’s a definite trend worldwide towards reducing prices to make IVF more available – in Scandinavian countries where there is free IVF there’s around 2.5 kids per classroom (25 kids) conceived via IVF and Israel is 3.7 kids compared to one kid per classroom in Australia and 0.4 per classroom in the US (where IVF costs are the highest).”
One in six Australian couples have difficulties when trying for a baby and while there are a range of fertility treatments available approximately a quarter of those couples will require IVF.
“One of the really satisfying aspects is that many of my obstetric patients come from a TFC [The Fertility Centre] pregnancy. I find that one of the best parts of my job,” Dr Greening said.
Couples should see their GP first for a referral to The Fertility Centre. Patients do not need to be in a health fund.