NRIs flock city for surrogate moms

Dec 16: Gujarat may remain the country’s surrogacy hub, with barren couples from across the world making a beeline for Anand district to shop for wombs, but Chennai’s infertility hospitals have gained popularity as a destination for surrogacy for the same reasons that make the city the capital of medical tourism — high quality healthcare at competitive rates. Each hospital maintains a database of around 30 potential surrogates, and each year, at least 10 of them are hired by childless couples.
An American couple (the wife could not conceive) in their late 40s will take home their bundle of joy thanks to the young Chennai woman who is carrying their baby at a hospital here, albeit for a tidy sum.
However, a childless Sri Lankan couple from Germany was not as lucky. After spending three years in Chennai and several failed attempts at conceiving, they decided to hire a surrogate.
“However, they returned empty-handed after they learnt that the German law does not accept any child born through surrogacy as a citizen of the country. “Now, she is still trying to conceive at a hospital in Germany,” says Dr Geeta Haripriya, infertility expert at Prashanth fertility clinic here.
It is mostly NRI couples from Canada and the US who come to Chennai in search of surrogates. “Children born of surrogate mothers are accepted as citizens in both these countries provided at least one donor parent is a national of the country. A DNA test is performed soon after birth to confirm this,” says Dr Geeta, who has overseen six successful surrogate deliveries for overseas patients in the past year alone.
However, surrogacy should be treated as a last resort, says Dr T. Kamraj, infertility specialist at Aakash fertility centre here. “Eighty per cent of our patients manage to conceive with simple treatment; around 15 per cent have to go in for technology like IVF and IUI; and hardly 2 per cent will need to approach a surrogate,” he explains.
“However, so-called hubs like Gujarat offer surrogacy as the best option without trying the others out. There should be a law to regulate this,” Dr Kamraj says.