Hyderabad: Accepting the claim of an infertility centre that the success rate of IVF is only 40 per cent and the “take home baby” rate is 25 per cent, the Kadapa District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has rejected compensation claims filed by four women. The women had filed complaints against the centre stating that each of them had paid Rs 3.2 lakh for IVF but the procedure had failed due to negligence. However, the forum ruled in favour of the infertility centre as the women could not produce proper documentation.
Velpula Jshvina Kumari, Pasala Nagamani, J. Subbalakshmi and P. Lalitha had lodged separate complaints against the Padma Test Tube Center at Proddutur, represented by Dr Y. Padmalatha. All the allegations were of a similar nature.
One of the complainants, P. Nagamani, a resident of Railway Quarters in Kadapa city, said that she had been childless despite being married for eight years. After seeing an advertisement of Padama Test Tube Centre in 2012, she had approached the centre and was assured 99 per cent success rate. Her counsel argued: “There were around 12 other persons who underwent the same treatment on the date when the petitioner took treatment and all the cases failed. After few days of starting treatment, the respondent stated that the eggs would be transmitted from unmarried people from Tamil Nadu to the petitioner and the same would cost Rs 80,000. After two months, semen from the petitioner’s husband was collected and there were periodical tests and medicine was being prescribed till about February 2013. The amounts collected were Rs 1,50,000 towards fees, medicines of Rs 80,000 and Rs 80,000 to the unmarried people. For HIV tests an additional Rs 30,000 was collected. Despite investing money the procedure failed due to negligence of the centre.”
The counsel for Padma Test Tube Centre refuted the allegations and stated: “It is false that the respondent doctor had given wide publicity in newspapers and TV. The allegations of the amounts collected are also false. The eggs are not collected from unmarried people but from married people. The respondent doctor never assured that there would be 100 per cent success. IVF success rate is 40 per cent and take home baby rate is 25 per cent...The complainant became pregnant. It was a missed abortion.”
The forum dismissed the arguments of the complainants as for most of the allegations they failed to produce documents whereas the responding party produced medical records to prove them wrong.
