Fertility clinic needs equipment to keep up with demand

Couples come to Kamal al-Samarai IVF Clinic to find out if they can have a boy instead of a girl; they come in to get tested for genetic diseases; and they come in when they are having trouble conceiving children. But with fertility problems seemingly on the rise and demand growing for clinical help, doctors need more training to keep up with modern techniques and the hospital needs new equipment and renovations to maintain its work, doctors say. In Iraq’s traditional society, it’s more important to have children than to worry about the embarrassment of going to the doctor, Layla Abdula Salam, the hospital’s administrator, told IRIN. Close to 34,000 patients have come through the clinic’s doors since the US-led invasion of Iraq in April 2003. In 2002, 70,500 patients were tested or received surgery, Israa Said Saleh, a hospital statistician, told IRIN. No previous statistics are available. Some days, up to 100 patients come in, Salam said. The number of females requesting treatment is slightly higher than males. Many more come looking for procedures that aren’t done in Iraq at the moment, Saleh said. Most of the patients don’t know that the “IVF” on the sign out front stands for “In-Vitro Fertilisation,” openly talked about in Western countries as a procedure to help couples have babies. The subject is virtually taboo in Muslim countries, Salam said. IVF can be done for a married couple in Iraq, but no outside sperm donors are allowed if a couple is having problems with infertility, Salam said. “It is not allowed legally to have another sperm donor. They would fire the doctor,” Salam said. In a waiting room on the main floor, several couples wait for test results. One, who identified himself only as Mohammed, said his wife had an X-ray to make sure her reproductive organs were healthy. Others declined to talk. Elsewhere in Baghdad, however, it appears people have an intense interest in the tests done at the clinic, they just don’t know how to talk about them. For example, a US contractor working on job training in Iraq told IRIN that a married woman named Zainat and her friend had approached him recently asking to have a piece of paper translated from English to Arabic. The test results showed that Zainat’s husband’s sperm count was lower than normal, the contractor said, declining to be named. “Once I explained to her through her friend what the results said, she was so relieved that her husband didn’t have cancer,” the contractor said. Fertility problems are on the rise because of environmental pollution and radiation in the air, Salam said. More couples are also dealing with psychological problems and stress from the most recent war and from the 1991 Gulf war, she added. The cost about 200,000 Iraqi dinars, (US $150) for a typical round of tests for a man and a woman and fertility drugs, is fairly cheap compared to other countries, but a high price for Iraqis, Salam said. “In general, nuclear radiation is increasing from bombs that were dropped,” she said, admitting she didn’t have any specific evidence. “People say, ‘Please help us. Our marriage is in danger’.” In Islamic society, a wife can divorce a husband if he is infertile and vice versa, Salam said. Now, the clinic is looking for help to replace high-tech equipment stolen by looters last spring. The Ministry of Health provided a new X-ray machine to replace one that was stolen. Special instruments and microscopes were also taken, so many patients are now referred to Jordan for treatment, Salam noted. In addition, doctors are eager to learn about things like laser surgery, she said. Doctors still can offer fertility drugs and some types of surgery, Salam said. Other patients are referred to Jordan. The hospital needs basic renovations, however, another doctor said to IRIN, declining to be named. There’s no generator to switch on when the city power supply goes off, which is often, she said. Doctors have few instruments and virtually no medical books, she said. “We are struggling for life,” the doctor said. “We need instruments, we need improvements.” Fertility treatment has boomed all over the world and Iraq is no different, the doctor said. But doctors need training on the latest technology so they can help their patients, she said. “Our numbers will go up even more once we are able to make improvements,” the doctor said. The clinic also looks at genetic abnormalities and hereditary diseases, some of which are common in the Middle East. It also has a blood bank. Although it was built by a wealthy Middle Eastern donor, the hospital is now run by the government.