Patel Nagar couple Renu and Ashok Kashniwal had almost given up hope. For 17 long years, their prayers for a child had remained unanswered. In March 1999, however, the couple gave in Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) a shot. And precisely a minute into the new century, 41-years-old Renu gave birth to Y2K’s first test-tube baby in the city. “Out of the 40 IVFs done in march 1999, 25 resulted in pregnancies,” says Dr Anoop Gupta of the Delhi IVF and Fertility Research Center at Bengali Market. “With the introduction of advanced reproductive techniques, the success rate has gone up considerably. From the normal 25 per cent, it is now about 60 per cent. This year, in the first three months alone, the center achieved 54 pregnancies, a 63 per cent rise over last year’s stilly. Every viable uterus is now pregnant with the hope of a baby.“ A member of the European Society of Human Reproduction And Embryology, Dr Gupta has facilitated the delivery of over 600 test-tube baby.” Reveals the doctor with paternal pride. Six years ago, when he retuned from the US to set up his center, the scene was very different. “For the first six month, we didn’t have any success,” he reminisces. “There was a time when I even thought of giving it all up and getting into the family business. Failures apart, the acceptability factor was also rankling, instead of backing me, many people thought I was out of my mind trying to add to the already bloated population of the country.” But just as he was beginning to be converted to their point of view, things changed. “There was this couple who were extremely desperate to have a child. They had exhausted all their resources in two cycles (each costs around Rs 60,000, medication included). So, I decided to do the third and final cycle for free. And that did it. The woman conceived,” he smiles. “Stress among women’s is a major factor coming in the way of conception, so when we took care of that, the tried and tested IVF method had to succeed,” says the doctor, whose satisfied patients include 50 mothers who had reached menopause. Among other factors that hinder conception, pollution, lifestyle and age rank high. “in India, it is estimated that about 1520 per cent of all couples in the fertile age braced are infertile,” says Dr Gupta. “Delaying pregnancy till the time one is ‘well-settled’ takes its toll. With age, the quality of eggs in a woman deteriorates and that makes it more difficult for her to conceive.” Over exertion at the gym, by the way, is harmful and so is over-medication.

Infertility , however, is a much- misunderstood phenomenon, which is what came to light the recent Conference on Management of infertility: Update. “It is not the same as impotence. An impotent person, after all, can be fertile. As medical knowledge advance, one can now have a baby even if the father’s sperm count does not add up right.