Every patient seeks for best specialist and best IVF centre to treat them. Who does not like to get the best treatment, with the best specialist, and best outcomes?
But how do we define the best IVF clinic? What are the criteria, when put together brings out the best of the clinics from a whole lot of Infertility Centre In Mumbai?
Criterias
1. Reference: The patients love to choose doctors after speaking to friends and family. Someone got pregnant and they refer you there.
What to look for: If you get any reference, you should research that best IVF clinic AND best IVF doctor. Read the reviews online and see their presence.
2. Qualification: Fertility training for Fertility specialists in India is still not a compulsory qualification. Most doctors are MD/MS Gynecologists & Obstetrician, few are just Diploma holders.
What to look for: IVF Doctor who has Fertility training. Your quality of treatment compounding improves if the Infertility doctor has international training from IVF / Fertility centre (preferably multiple trainings).
3. Clinic Set up: Is it just a Fertility / IVF clinic providing only IVF treatment services or a Nursing home / Hospital which provides all services including hysteroscopy, laparoscopy, delivery, antenatal care, etc.?
What to look for: Though few patients prefer to have everything under one roof. The disadvantage is: the same IVF doctor is unable to give time and quality inputs into one stream. It is always good to focus on doctors who can focus on your medical condition with quality time.
4. Consultation Time: Does your Fertility doctor give you time? There are some doctors who have a very long OPD and may not give you enough time per consultation.
What to look for: An IVF doctor who has patience, and treats each patient as unique, and gives time till patients all queries are answered.
5. Experience: No doubt, the number of years of experience in the field is directly proportional to the liking of a patient.
What to look for: A senior IVF doctor in Mumbai or anywhere who meets you every time you visit. And not only once and then requests you to be seen by his / her assistants. In those cases, most often than not, you are just one case, treated on same lines like others without a dedicated who has patience, and treats each patient as unique, and gives time.
6. Billing: In India, there are regulations demanding the pricing of the procedures should be highlighted clearly. Most IVF clinics in Mumbai or IVF doctors do not display these openly.
What to look for: There is a standard billing system, transparent and same for all patients. If they give you a printed pricing document, it means they are extremely professional.
7. Hidden charges: IVF treatment program is indeed expensive and not covered by insurance. For same reasons, some clinics choose not to display all the pricing at the start. Few of them even present pricing at the very last moment, which patient perceives as threat.
What to look for: Simple IVF treatment costs defined at the start. Even if expensive the couple needs to know the IVF program costs before the program starts.
8. Distance from Home: This a tricky one. At times we are comfortable to take doctors who are close by.
What to look for: All the other factors mentioned above are of paramount importance and if for the same, you have to travel around, is worth it.
9. Cycle details: Usually most IVF treatment clinics will keep the file with them. They may not even share the details of the cycle (like a number of eggs, embryos) with patients.
What to look for: You are the consumer. You have all legal rights to only to get the documents but the information along with. Some best Fertility clinics even share the embryo pics with patients, depicting higher standards of transparency.
10.Post Cycle Counselling: May clinics whether you are pregnant or negative, will counsel briefly about the next steps.
What to look for: You need to look for a fertility doctor who has empathy and gives you time to recover from the trauma. Also gives you choices for the next cycle options.
11. Egg Donor Option: Your doctor is continually giving you an option for an egg donor or sperm donor or embryo donation.
What to look for: Egg donor options are like ready made food packs. You don’t need an expert chef to cook ready made food. Similarly, your IVF doctor should try to give you your genetic child.
These are only a few pointers of many more criterias that decide which clinic should a patient go for. Always take a few minutes before you narrow down your best IVF Specialist of 2019.