25 November,2020 06:13 PM IST | Mumbai | Partnered Content
Dr. Gautam Allahbadia
For people from all walks of life, one of life's greatest pleasures is bearing your own genetic child. Bringing your progeny into the world - a literal part of you, fills us with emotions and feelings that we otherwise were unacquainted with.
But just as true is the blessing of having a child, so is the fact that with modern life, pregnancy comes naturally to fewer and fewer people. With infertility in couples reaching to figures like 60-80 million annually globally, "childlessness" seems like a hard pill to swallow but is the reality for many. This has, however, paved the way for medical science to come forth and offer a solution. Initially deemed unacceptable, assisted reproduction is no longer frowned upon, but is accepted and acknowledged across borders. Moreover, MAR or Medically Assisted Reproduction has changed the fundamental understanding of how we procreate.
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) has not only provided solutions to fertility problems but has gone beyond that. The emotional, social and psychological impacts of IVF have been immense. IVF understands human reproduction and has changed the fundamental understanding of it. Now, with IVF having its reach and familiarity across borders, religions and ethnicities, there has been a tremendous increase in couples who opt for it.
Anticipating the current demand, almost 30 years back, Dr. Gautam Allahbadia, a senior IVF Consultant initiated the country's first budget IVF Centre - Deccan IVF (later renamed Rotunda - The Center for Human Reproduction) at Parel, Mumbai to help underprivileged infertile couples. Succeeding his mother's dying wish to help the not-so-fortunate and help babies find their way into this world irrespective of economic disparity, and giving infertile couples the boon of parenthood, Dr Gautam Allahbadia has since helped thousands of couples. He being a cancer-survivor himself, the driver's seat at Rotunda-CHR has now been taken by his wife Dr Swati Allahbadia (www.iwannagetpregnant.com) and his daughter Dr Akanksha Allahbadia Gupta who is also an IVF specialist.
For couples who have battled infertility for years and have faced the hard times of not able to bear a child, do understand the blessing that IVF has been for them. There is emotional upheaval for couples and their immediate families once they are diagnosed with infertility. This directly affects the health and mental state of a person. It is not very easy to understand how a childless couple would react and behave in a social system. IVF has been that calming solution for such couples to achieve parenthood and get that happiness in their lives.
Dr Gautam Allahbadia, a leading medical professional in Reproductive Endocrinology and IVF has been providing fertility solutions to couples across the globe. Dr. Gautam Allahbadia is recognized for his expertise in Ultrasound Guided Embryo transfers and for helping out women with low AMH with his pioneering work with Minimal Stimulation IVF (IVF Lite), in South-East Asia. He gave the nomenclature IVF Lite to the world and leads the field in this path-changing technique in the UAE today. With so many feathers added to his hat and accolades he has achieved; he has been responsible for completing over 9000 families in six continents.
"IVF is one of the best treatments for couples who cannot conceive for many different reasons. Over the past years, pregnancy rates associated with IVF have been twice as high when compared to early days. When we compare it to other modalities, IVF is more cost effective and efficient in achieving pregnancy." says the doctor, highlighting how IVF has been useful.
Avowedly a religious man, Dr. Gautam Allahbadia extends is medical prowess and acquired knowledge to help both men and women overcome infertility. Having practiced in both India & UAE, he has helped set up over 36 Medical establishments and trained staff both medical & para-medical, from scratch to successful practitioners of the art now.
Being a cancer survivor, Dr. Gautam Allahbadia cherishes each day as it comes and wants to help people stay happy and hopeful through his medical contributions. Talking about it he reasserts Albert Einstein's famous quotation, "It is every man's obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it."
On questioning about the future of assisted reproduction and how will he make it accessible to the unprivileged, Dr. Gautam Allahbadia's firm resolute was indeed, inspiring. "I will have my retirement home cum hospital for the visiting doctors in the same premises in a really rural part of India where medical help is difficult. Besides treating the poor in this 100% not-for-profit charitable hospital which he wants to run from his family owned Hari Charitable Trust, he also wants to train the local staff as para-medicals. If we are successful in the first stand-alone unit, I want to help open three-four more identical units in rural communities over the next 2-3 years."
Sharing his plans for future in great lengths, it seems that there's certainly nothing stopping him. Talking about his years in practice, the doctor feels honored to have successfully walked the journey of pregnancy with his patients. As for his big dream of setting up best fertility medical establishments for those in need, he says that perseverance is the main ingredient in the recipe of achieving anything.
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