The civic-run KEM Hospital in Parel, where Mumbai’s first test-tube baby was born, is set to get a new in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) facility to treat women from the lower economic strata.
IVF specialists Dr. Anjali and Dr. Aniruddha Malpani, alumni of G.S. Medical College attached to KEM Hospital, will contribute ₹1 crore to set up the facility and fund 75 to 100 IVF cycles for the first three years.
Dr. Anjali said, “KEM is our alma mater and we always wanted to give something back. We have signed an MoU with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to set up the facility. Space for the facility has been identified.”
She said the facility will have a three-pronged approach: offer low-cost IVF treatment, train gynaecologists in IVF and conduct research and development. She said, “The facility has been called Malpani Anjali and Aniruddha (MAA) IVF Centre in the MoU.”
A few years after the first test-tube baby was born at the hospital in 1986, the facility was shut down due to the huge costs involved. With the new facility, KEM Hospital will be the only public hospital to offer IVF treatment. The couple have been appointed professor emeritus by the BMC under an initiative that has roped in top doctors from the private sector to offer their services at civic-run hospitals and set up a functional unit of their specialty.
Dr. Ramesh Bharmal, director of major civic hospitals, said, “Each of the doctors will have fellows training under them. They have been given the responsibility of establishing their unit and offering services in the public set up.”
Dr. Bharmal said the BMC’s initiative is unique as it gives well-known doctors the opportunity to give back to society and their alma mater. Meanwhile, Dr. Hemant Deshmukh, dean of KEM Hospital, is hopeful that the facility will be opened by the year-end.
