Turkish hospital provides infertility answers

19-Dec-2006

The UK has one of the most advanced healthcare systems in the world and many people would be surprised to learn of hard-to-obtain treatments being routinely available in other countries.

However, one patient who had struggled to get pregnant for years found that the treatment in Turkey was superior to that back home in Scotland and is now open to seeking treatment in other countries.

Susan, a 35-year-old nurse, told BBC News that she decided to go abroad for infertility treatment after repeated IVF failures in the UK and chose the American Hospital of Istanbul in Turkey as she had read papers by one of its doctors in medical journals.

Although the treatment itself cost around the same as in the UK, Susan revealed the hospital offered "routine treatments that they don't do in the UK".

"Over there they treat you as an individual; over here you're just a number," she told the BBC.

"I think the clinics are several years more advanced than in the UK and your treatment is more individualised," she added.

Susan said that, although the sheer size of Istanbul was a little daunting, the people were kind and helpful.

"I was treated in a beautiful, big, clean, modern hospital with all the latest technology."

In the end, Susan did not receive IVF in Turkey, because doctors immediately spotted the reason for her previous failed pregnancies – something which her UK doctors had failed to do.

She has now booked to go to the Ukraine for surgery which will hopefully increase her chances of a successful pregnancy in the future.