In recent years, many low-cost assisted reproduction centers have appeared. However, this is antonymous to quality and commitment to patients. Hence the importance of carrying out such an important process in a center that places great demands on the main objective: to bring a healthy child into the world.
The crisis that has been affecting us for years has led to cutbacks at all levels. However, in the case of health care, it can have very serious repercussions. In the field of assisted reproduction, “low cost” centers have been appearing which, as their name suggests, have lower prices, but this, of course, affects the quality of care.
The common goal of patients and professional experts is to achieve the birth of a healthy child. And, to do so, the work must be done in the safest and most reliable way.
Quality and commitment in assisted reproduction
In order to fulfill this commitment to quality, a qualified team of people with total dedication is needed, as well as the appropriate means to minimize risks. This is only possible by having laboratories with the best technology and investing in continuous staff training.
More than three decades have passed since the first IVF baby girl was born and today we are able to solve sterility problems that were totally unthinkable at that time. In this time we have managed to put reproductive medicine at the forefront of medicine, not only in our country, but also internationally, both for the quality of our care and our results.
It is true that many of the investments are not and will not be profitable from an economic point of view, but they allow processes to be carried out with greater safety and accuracy. This, after all, is the common goal of both specialists and patients.
An embryology laboratory should not skimp on any investment that represents a guarantee of safety.
Previous reproductive studies in men and women
The study of the female is as important as that of the male, which is why an andrologist must be present in an assisted reproduction center. He or she will evaluate the male factor and treat andrological problems before the couple undergoes any assisted reproduction treatment. Similarly, a quality center must have a psychological office that can provide help and support to patients, since the emotional burden of infertility problems and treatments is not small and expert help is necessary.
Requirements for a good assisted reproduction service
There are several essential tasks to ensure a good assisted reproduction service. This work is minimized with a good team that has the best means, always complying with European regulations to work with maximum safety and minimizing risks:
– Duplicate the equipment
– Working in pairs to have double control in the processes.
– Working weekends and holidays
– Attend congresses and training courses.
– Perform audits and external quality controls
– Have an adequate number of personnel
– To have 24-hour security and control systems in the storage systems of frozen embryos and gametes.
– To have exhaustive controls and records of environmental conditions of temperature, humidity and air quality in the laboratories, quality in the medical gases, in the culture media and in the embryo tested fungible material.
– Professionalism and expertise of the embryologists, who know that each step in each process has a set time and that exceeding it would not be good for the embryos.
All this deployment of means allows us not only to dedicate to each patient the necessary time to make a good diagnosis and, therefore, to indicate the appropriate treatment, but also to offer complementary techniques that will improve the chances of having a healthy child at home.
The level of demand in each process must be imposed by the center itself and all the staff must be aware of the importance and relevance that this has.
Difference between quality and low-cost assisted reproduction centers
The big difference between a quality center and a low-cost center starts with the company’s philosophy. A quality center will invest in having the best professionals, the best facilities and the best resources for its patients to achieve their dream of becoming parents. This can never be compared to another where the short-term profitability of the business and the work policy is dictated by the venture capital company that owns it.
The investment in security is expensive and is proportional to the cost of the cycle.
The goal we pursue, both professionals and future parents, is the birth of a healthy child and the cuts of the crisis have no place in this project.