Feel Good Friday – Public IVF service brings hope to KZN families
The IVF programme is expected to commence in October and will initially provide more than 150 IVF treatment cycles annually.
FOR many families across KZN, the dream of having a child has remained out of reach as the high cost of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) pushed specialised fertility treatment beyond their means.
That is set to change in October when the KZN Department of Health launches the province’s first public-sector IVF programme at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital.
The initiative is expected to make fertility treatment significantly more accessible and affordable for residents who previously had little choice but to seek costly private healthcare or travel to other provinces offering public IVF services.
Announcing the milestone during her recent budget speech in the KZN Legislature, Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane said every resident deserves access to specialised healthcare, regardless of where they live or what they earn.
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“For far too long, couples in KwaZulu-Natal requiring treatment had little choice but to seek prohibitively expensive private healthcare. Either that, or they had to travel to other provinces where public IVF services were already available,” she said.
Currently, public-sector IVF services are available at Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha, Tygerberg Hospital in Bellville, Cape Town, and Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria.
To establish the new service, the department is investing R30m in specialised equipment. “KwaZulu-Natal is now catching up by joining provinces such as Gauteng, the Free State and the Eastern Cape in offering this highly specialised service in the public health sector,” said Simelane.
She said the programme is expected to begin in October and will initially provide more than 150 IVF treatment cycles each year. “It will be supported by a dedicated multidisciplinary team, including specialised nurses and embryologists,” she added.
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