Martins Ifijeh
The Bridge Clinic has said its new product, FertilitySure, is aimed at reducing the cost burden that comes with assessing Invitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatment.
The clinic made this assertion at the Quarter 2 edition of its Welcome Forum for couples who are having challenges with child bearing.
In his remarks, Coordinator, Corporate Marketing and Corporate Communications of the clinic, Dr. Ekundayo Omogbehin, informed the couples who were in attendance that FertilitySure was created to compartmentalise the fertility tests that couples have to undergo to ascertain their fertility status into four distinct bouquets namely FertilitySure Lite, FertilitySure Life, FertilitySure Plus and FertilitySure Comprehensive.
He said that prior to the launch of the product, couples who have fertility challenges were normally sent to undergo uniform fertility tests irrespective of their personal cases. This, according to him, put a lot of cost burden on the couples, especially those who may not necessarily need to go for all these tests to diagnose the causes of their infertility.
He said: ‘’FertilitySure aims at customising, as much as possible, the fertility tests to suit the needs of the individual couples. This will reduce the cost of fertility assessment as couples will only have to go for a limited number of tests at a time, and once the cause of their infertility is determined, they will not be needed to go for further tests.”
He noted that, while FertilitySure Lite is recommended for individuals or couples who have had no prior consultation or treatment for fertility issues or new and intending couples who desire to know their fertility status, FertilitySure Comprehensive is particularly recommended for couples who are known to be in need of Specialist, Advanced or Alternative Care or couples who have waited or had fertility challenges for two years and above. FertilitySure Plus supports the FertilitySure Lite in the treatment of patients who require Specialist and Advanced Care.
Omogbehin further noted that FertilitySure Life is a general wellness assessment that allows couples to be aware of any health conditions that they may have. Unlike the other bouquets, FertilitySure Life, he said, cannot be booked as a stand-alone series of tests but must be booked in addition to any of the other three bouquets. He listed some of the tests in this bouquet t include cholesterol, thyroid function, kidney function, liver function, diabetes and full blood count.
Earlier at the forum, Dr. Opeyemi Akinajo, a consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician had advised couples going through infertility challenges not to indulge in a blame game but jointly look at ways of assessing effective treatment.
In her presentation titled ‘Infertility, who is to blame’, Akinajo, a fertility physician at The Bridge Clinic, said that informed statistics have shown that men and women contribute equally to global cases of infertility.
