Egg donors cash in on IVF baby boom

Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey, TNN | Jul 18, 2014, KOLKATA: With no steady source of income, 24-year-old Protima Santra (name changed) finds it difficult to make ends meet. But she has just been able to re-lay the tiles of her leaking roof and send her children for tuition, thanks to the handsome Rs 25,000 that she has recently made. However, she cannot spend the money too lavishly because it has to last the family at least three months after which she will head for the fertility clinic where she had donated her eggs and earned the money.

Egg donation and freezing are the two methods by which the infertile can undergo assisted conception. While the latter is just catching up in the city, the former has turned into a brisk business already. There are scores of young healthy egg donors who are enlisting themselves with fertility clinics. With in-vitro fertilisation becoming quite a successful option for assisted pregnancies in the city, the demand for healthy donor eggs is on the rise. Since the scope for earning money is quite high with each donation cycle, an organized business has developed around this donation. No one is complaining though. The chain doesn't start and end with clinics and donors. It is complete with agents and sub-agents in between.

Earlier, the number of donors was limited as most women were scared of the social taboo attached with "such work". With the rise in the number of donors, patients are now demanding for "better quality eggs", meaning eggs from donors who are fair, beautiful and educated since such women will naturally produce better quality eggs, leading to a beautiful and intelligent baby.

Naturally, agents have a tougher job at hand these days though they also have the liberty to charge higher for such donors. Take the case of Mohua Ghosh, an agent who lives in Barrackpore and has a wide net of donors sourced from all over North 24-Parganas. She is much sought after by a large number of infertility clinics in the city because she is able to get them educated and good-looking donors. "Sonamoni Kundu (name changed), one of my donors, is a good looking nurse. Naturally she is a hit. Is it surprising that she will command a higher price?" Mohua asked.

"For every donation, a patient has to cough up anything between Rs 25000 to Rs 40,000. The donor does not get the entire amount. She has to give a percentage to the agent and in many cases a sub agent who has helped her reach the clinic," explained fertility expert Aindri Sanyal. A donor has to be married with at least one child and free from thalassemia and HIV before she is accepted by the clinic. She is then put through a broad spectrum hormonal treatment so that she is able to produce at least 15 eggs per menstrual cycle. Under normal circumstances a body produces just one egg; those that are in the process of forming get automatically absorbed in the ovary. "A donor can give her eggs once in three months because she has to return to her natural state after the hormonal treatment," said fertility expert Shiuli Mukherjee.

A donor, however, can donate not more than thrice because the body cannot go on receiving hormonal treatment. They turn into agents then. "I donated thrice. At that time I didn't disclose it even to my husband. Since I know the channel I am helping others earn and in the process making a neat income for myself too!"

The fear of infertility is high in city women and many are going for freezing their own healthy eggs lest they are unable to conceive in future with their own eggs. Twenty year old Aarti Shah is a single woman who had a surgery to remove ovarian cysts last February. Her doctor warned her of future infertility and advised her to freeze her eggs at a bank in Kolkata. She hasn't decided on having a child as yet. But frozen eggs give her the option of mothering a biological child even if she chooses not to get married, she says. When 28-year-old IT employee Ahana Roy (name changed) decided to shift to the UK for a course, she too froze her egg.

For women choosing to defer motherhood, there has never been a more liberating option. Women in Kolkata have started opting for it and the city now has two egg cell banks with another due in a few months.

"Since the motherhood age coincides with the time when their careers are taking off, women face a dilemma. With egg banking, the success rate is satisfactory," said fertility expert Gautam Khastagir. He cited the instance of a banker who was not keen on becoming a mother, even at 32. "She was not sure about her future plans and had a busy schedule. So, she was planning to adopt when we gave her the option. She went for it and turned a mother three years later," added Khastagir.

Young cancer patients are also advised to get their eggs stored. Chemotherapy affects the ovaries and could lead to infertility, said Arindam Rath, another fertility expert. "Inquiries are pouring in," said Rath.

The procedure is simple. An ovum is extracted and stored at the bank. It is a non-invasive process and the egg can be stored for five years. Chances of conception vary between 10% and 15%. "Once the egg has been stored for five years, we need to review it before further storage," said Rath. Freezing an egg is an expensive proposition, though. It will cost you around Rs 1-1.25 lakh, apart from an annual storage charge of Rs 20,000.