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Clinic tries to attract couples
Local doctors are offering improved, friendlier services to encourage couples who wish to undergo IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) processes
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ocal doctors are offering improved, friendlier services to encourage couples who wish to undergo IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) processes.
In the past, these couples usually sought such services abroad, where couples were offered more facilities and better services including more attentive doctors, the doctors said.
“Sometimes the patients complain that doctors [in Indonesia] do not have enough time for them,” Imam Susanto, head of the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital’s (RSCM)Kencana Service Providing Unit, said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
He said that in the past, medical practices were often reported as understaffed and doctors traveled to many practices to meet patient needs.
However, the 2004 law on doctoral practices had limited the places in which doctors could practice to three places.
Imam was speaking during a promotional event for RSCM’s re-vamped Yasmin Kencana Clinic, which provides services on reproduction and infertility.
The clinic will have its soft opening this month.
The clinic, along with other clusters in the “Kencana” section of RSCM, will attempt to provide doctors who are available at any time of the day, as well as other premium services to win the hearts of patients.
Andon Hestiantoro, specialist doctor in the clinic, said that psychological factors, including informative consultations with doctors and the partners providing each other with strong support during the IVF process, play a large part in determining the success of the process.
He claimed that the service the clinic provided had a competitive edge compared to those abroad.
“We often receive patients who were unsuccessful in IVF in other countries or other local hospitals. This might be caused by poor communication with the doctors, who failed to thoroughly explain the process,” Andon said.
Sometimes, he said, the couples told him about their experience in other countries.
He added that couples should receive psychological consultation sessions as well as be warned of the failure risk of the process.
The current global success rate of IVF processes stands between 30 to 35 percent, while the cost for the process in the clinic is around Rp 50 million (US$5,550).
“The process is stressful and Rp 50 million is not a small amount,” Andon said.
Budi Wiweko, another specialist working at the clinic, said that many Indonesians were still unaware of the availability of IVF technology in local hospitals.
“There has been an inadequate dissemination of information, and we have only recently had an organization for IVF. We hope that the organization will help us regulate IVF clinics,” he said.
Budi added that the organization would also assist in “regulating the panderers of IVF”, who attract patients to undergo the process in hospitals outside Indonesia.
He said that last year the clinic managed 175 cases, rising from 125 cases the previous year.
There are at least 20,000 financially capable Indonesians who can benefit from IVF technology, and there are 15 clinics providing the technology in Indonesia, but most couples choose to seek treatment outside the country, Budi said.
The clinic said the requirements for IVF were that a couple must be officially married, they have tried to conceive a child naturally for at least one year, and have tried other available methods such as insemination. (dis)
