1st Anniversary

Press Release September 2009

"Miracles do happen" might appear to be cliché term, but at Apollo Fertility Centre at The Lanka Hospitals Corporation PLC, it is the essence of what happens every day. The Apollo Fertility Centre celebrates one year of establishment on September 23rd and has much to be proud of - the centre has already given hope to many with a milestone achievement of a total of 110 successful IVF pregnancies and 10 precious bundles of joy born within their first year itself!

The Apollo Fertility Centre was established in September last year and has since then made themselves the benchmark in the In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) field through the revolutionary methodologies used at the centre. The month of May saw the birth of the centre's first IVF baby boy - a "little blessing" to be born at the hospital, who was aided by the fertility centre. Simultaneously, the centre has seen many more such breakthroughs in fertility treatment, ranging from successful IVF pregnancies of women who have endometriosis, distorted tubes, fibroids and other such complications - even to those who have had ectopic pregnancies where both fallopian tubes were removed. Successful treatments have also included cases where the male has lower sperm counts - as low as less than 1 million (average sperm count is usually 20 million per milliliter). Now as the centre progresses towards their second year, every month sees two to three babies being born - following the excitement of the first baby boy, then twins in June and this month the first baby girl to be born at the hospital.

The centre consists of a team of highly skilled and specialized doctors, gynecologists, embryologists, endocrinologist, urologists and radiologists who conduct comprehensive diagnostics to identify fertility problems and their root causes, with emphasis on non-invasive and minimally invasive procedures. The team, headed by the two gynecologists - Dr. Nishendra Karunaratne and Dr. Sudeera Uduwela, together with in-house medical doctor and embryologist Madara Ralapanawe - the only Sri-Lankan doctor to have a post graduate masters degree in Clinical Embryology, carries out many different procedures, some more advanced than others but all focused on being the least invasive. Madara and the rest of the team, supported by their highly skilled nursing and technical teams, are driven to maintain the international standard of 35-40% for successful IVF (In-Vitro Fertilization) and ICSI (Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection treatments) which they've achieved thus far, whilst also working towards the goal of increasing their success rate to a magnitude of 50% in the near future, which only a few places in the world has yet achieved.

Walking around the centre, it is very easy to see why many opt to undergo the procedure at the Apollo Fertility Centre. Created on the concept 'where life begins' the Fertility Centre embraces a warm, friendly 'home-like' atmosphere. A far cry indeed from the cold, clinical approach generally found. The treatment rooms emulate an environment as homely and as comfortable as possible and the treatments themselves are conducted to suit the natural time cycles of a patient. Even the centre's color scheme of green and gold is specially chosen to symbolize fertility and prosperity and every effort has been made to make the centre a family-friendly space, where patients are welcome to bring family members or other offspring along. The state-of-the-art facilities offered include an IVF laboratory, freezing/storage facilities for embryos, ultrasound facility, operating suite for egg collection, private sperm collection rooms, private consultation rooms and a counseling room - all as result of an investment of Rs. 30 million which was made for the development of the IVF laboratory. The facility includes all state-of-the-art equipment from Japan, Germany and Australia that goes with providing the newest medical interventions and brings the newest and most efficient methods of healthcare to the hospital. The equipment has the capacity to perform reproductive techniques everyday and 1000 cycles a year. This includes the Em Cel IVF chamber - the latest model with inbuilt HEPA filters which is available for the first time in Southeast Asia, Heraus Co2 and 02/N2 incubators, and Motorised Narisheige micromanipulator with Olympus inverted microscope for ICSI which is made in Japan.

The quality of the service at the centre coupled with the cost at which it's provided has attracted many international couples from the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States of America, Maldives and the Middle East in the hopes of starting a family - which, including local patients adds up to at least 45 - 50 patients a month, stresses Dr. Ralapanawe. Affordability, according to him, has been recognized as a critical factor which plays a significant role in the couples' decision. Therefore though the cost of the procedure is comparatively low - as low as 150,000, payments can also be made in installments over the course of the procedure - a strategy which goes in line with The Lanka Hospitals Corporation's main vision of providing quality healthcare at an affordable price. The procedures cover Natural cycle IVF, Intermediate IVF cycle and Controlled Ovarian Hyper- stimulation IVF cycle - with prices ranging to suit patients according to their clinical condition and the procedure adopted. He further highlights that they understand that patients travel from out of Colombo to receive treatment at the centre. Therefore, he avers, that at the centre they initiate the process and then contact the patient's family doctor, providing them with the injections needed to be administered and information on the particular case - thus enabling the patients to receive the treatment in their hometown - which will also reduce the cost of travel involved in the process. "While the Apollo Fertility Center is open everyday we intend taking the process to the outskirts so that those in need of such services from the peripheries need not come to the centre in Colombo, but can stay in surroundings familiar to them and obtain the same services, with no compromise whatsoever on the quality of care that is given to all our patients," he added. 

Madara further stresses that they do not use the batch method of IVF cycle patients at the same time as done in most hospitals but instead follows the cycle of each individual patient, thus continuing the fertility cycle throughout 365 days of the year and also reducing the risk of any impact on the patient's body. "We do IVF cycles everyday, therefore we do not manipulate the normal or natural cycles. We have even had requests for auspicious timings for embryo transfers" he stated.

The Fertility centre at The Lanka Hospitals Corporation PLC is just the beginning of the medical journey. Once conception has been achieved at the fertility centre, teams of professional highly skilled gynecologists are ready to step in to ensure the welfare of both the mother and child at the birthing centre. The well-equipped neo-natal centre and emergency unit available at the hospital ensures nothing but the best for the mother and her new little bundle! That innovation in healthcare has been the reason behind The Lanka Hospitals Corporation PLC's success combined with quality medical professionals and quality healthcare while continuously improving their quality standards and ensuring that all of this is affordable to a larger segment of society.

"We invite all gynecologists in Sri Lanka to make use of this great opportunity in giving their patients the opportunity to be treated at the Apollo Fertility Center with world class facilities at affordable costs," said Dr. Ralapanawe whose 'baby' is the Fertility Centre that is on track to medically assist sub-fertile couples achieve their dream of having a baby.