One year ago, Illawarra fertility specialist Dr David Greening’s dream of providing the region with a cut-price IVF clinic became a reality.
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Since that time his team at The Fertility Centre has treated close to 400 women – more than one-third of whom fell pregnant on their first cycle.
Dr Greening now hopes the centre – the sixth of its kind in Australia to offer discounted pricing – can provide a model for centres in regional and rural areas across Australia.
“We know cost is a major factor in accessing IVF (in-vitro fertilisation) so for some time I’d been wanting to bring a cost-effective model to the Illawarra to make the treatment more accessible,’’ he said.
“Low cost doesn’t mean low quality – we offer a high standard and have the backing of IVF Australia – but this is a model that is exceptionally perfect for regional Australia, and for low socio-economic areas.
“The Australian government supports IVF through Medicare and the PBS and we do well, but cost will drive utilisation. The Scandinavian models of free IVF shows that.’’
For instance, Dr Greening said, statistics showed there were around three kids per classroom conceived via IVF in Scandinavian countries, compared to one per classroom in Australia and 0.3 per class in the US where costs are high.
“Helping someone have a baby is an amazing privilege,’’ he said. ‘’In one year we’ve seen 10 babies born, and there’s lots of ongoing pregnancies, and it’s fantastic to be part of that.’’
One of the new mothers is Kiama’s Chloe Jochheim, who thought she and fiance Sean Byrne would be unable to start a family after discovering both her fallopian tubes were blocked.
The cost of traditional IVF seemed prohibitive, but the lower prices offered by the Wollongong clinic enabled her to start treatment.
As the Auburn Street centre celebrates its first birthday, Chloe and Sean are enjoying three months with their baby daughter Sienna.
“We’d been trying to fall pregnant for nine months, and then I found out my tubes were blocked and IVF was my best chance,’’ Ms Jochheim said.
“The lower cost definitely helped us, and I was lucky enough to fall pregnant on my first cycle. Dr Greening not only helped us conceive our beautiful little girl, he delivered her as well.’’