Over 2 thousand women get IVF in Kazakhstan annually

Around 3 thousand women apply to the Institute of Reproductive Medicine in Kazakhstan, Tengrinews.kz reports citing the Institute director Tamara Dzhussubaliyeva. “Up to 3 thousand reproductively-challenged patients apply to the Institute annually. 2 thousand of them get in vitro fertilization (IVF), the rest have to wait for their turn,” she said. As per Dzhussubaliyeva, currently the law forbids selecting the child's gender. “The gender is a matter of chance, but we select a healthy kid, i.e. a health chromosome,” she noted. Currently the IVF costs 285 thousand tenge (around $2,000). The similar amount of money is be required for medications for the procedure. Kazakhstan government allocated over 60 million tenge ($405 thousand) for IVF in 2010. On May 28, 2011 Almaty Institute of Reproductive Medicine held a campaign offering free consultations for Kazakhstan citizens. By Aizhan Tugelbayeva