More Gurgaonites opting for surrogacy

GURGAON: Gurgaon: For 37-year-old Meghna (name changed), her career as a top level executive in a Gurgaon-based telecom company meant everything. Business visits abroad, long and hectic working hours and habits like drinking and smoking attributed to attaining menopause early.
"I did not realize that I was running against time and never made a conscious effort to expand my family," says Meghna who underwent treatment for her condition at a city Infertility clinic.However, a year later, she has decided to opt for a surrogate.
Meghna is not an isolated case in the city as both city-based couples as well as expats are increasingly looking at surrogacy as their option to have children, say doctors.
According to doctors, surrogacy can be of two types - traditional where the woman bears her genetic child or gestational where the child is genetically of other woman. The surrogate, provided by agencies, usually takes up this task of bearing and delivering another's child for monetary gains.
According to Nalini Mahajan, clinical director, Nova IVI Fertility, surrogacy is suggested to those couples who are suffering from infertility and unable to carry the pregnancy in their own womb because of medical conditions like thin endometrium lining, uterine anomalies, multiple abortions etc. Other reasons include advanced age, marital status, sexual orientation etc.
However, doctors also say that recent trends show that it is also being considered a general option to have a baby, ie, where the patient may not necessarily have any medical condition lowering their chances to conceive.
"There are instances where women are doing such jobs that taking off from work is not possible or may deter their professional growth. Same sex couples also take services of surrogate mothers," explains Chetna Jain, senior consultant, department of OBG, Columbia Asia Hospital.
Sonai Malik, programme director - IVF, Max Hospital says, "We get patients who have finished all their eggs and have opted for surrogacy as their last option. However, in order that the child gets its nutrition from the mother itself, we train and stimulate actual mothers in the seventh month of pregnancy to begin lactation."
Malik added that IVF clinics issue certificates to such couples for having borne a child through surrogacy and corporates acknowledge it to grant maternity leaves.
Mahajan says, "For some the pain and discomfort is the reason. I recently had a case where a 40-year-old lady who underwent IVF and was in the third month of her pregnancy decided to terminate the pregnancy because of the discomfort involved in the process. However, she did want to have a baby and thus, she decided to hire a surrogate."
With more and more awareness spreading about surrogacy, people are willing to become surrogates, maintain doctors.