Finney Hospital delivers first In Vitro baby

Daily Graphic (spread) Thursday, May 27/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

A year after it was officially inaugurated, the Finney Hospital and Fertility Centre at New Bortianor, near Accra has delivered its first In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) baby.
The healthy looking baby girl was delivered at 11.30 a.m. through a caesarean section (CS) on Tuesday and weighed 2.65 kilograms.
The Consultant Embryologist of the centre, Mr Ellis Fleischer-Djoleto, who led the team in the fertilisation process, said the centre was poised for changing the face of health care, especially women’s health, in the country.
Assisted by Mr George Serlom Quarcoe, a senior embryologists and IVF Director at the centre, and Dr Henry Markham, a resident clinician, Dr Fleischer-Djoleto said the centre, which was established in 2008 but was officially opened in September, 2009, opened an Assisted Conception Unit (ACU) to cater for the increasing demand for fertility services in the country.
He said the hospital was capable of helping to solve the fertility needs of women in the country and beyond.
According to him, the hospital, which has a modern sperm bank, offered specialised services such as sperm and egg freezing for oncology patients, embryo freezing, surgical sperm retrieval, sperm donation and surrogacy, among others, to help couples who had difficulty in having babies.
He said since the unit was set up, it had performed 32 IVFs and Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injections (ICSIs) out of which 12 pregnancies had been achieved.
Mr Fleischer-Djoleto said the centre was elated at the delivery of the baby because it was the first IVF baby to be delivered in the hospital.
The Midwife at the hospital, Ms Sahadatu Abubakar, said after performing the necessary checks on her, the baby was found to be in a normal condition.