Women up to 44 'should get free IVF treatment'

Published on Monday 13 September 2010 15:25

Women up to the age of 44 should be given free IVF treatment, an expert has claimed.

IVF is undergoing a huge global expansion, particularly in developing countries, and thousands of couples cross borders every year to access treatment or find egg and sperm donors.

Data has revealed hundreds of British women go abroad every month for fertility treatment, due to the high costs in this country and restrictions on accessing it on the NHS.

Official guidelines say women should get three free cycles of IVF on the NHS but fewer than one in three health trusts offer this and several do not fund fertility treatment at all.

Professor Johannes Evers told the World Congress of Fertility and Sterility in Munich each new life contributed about €238,000 (200,000) to the economy once healthcare, retirement, education and social welfare costs were taken into account.

But he warned that while IVF was cost-effective up to 44, women should not wait until their fertility declined to have children, due to the low chances of IVF success.

He said: "One of the means to reduce the cost of IVF has been to call for an age limit on fertility in general and IVF in particular.

"This work shows that society actually receives substantial benefits from each baby produced via IVF, and simply looking at the costs of IVF without looking at the benefits is false economy."

His comments came as a study by the International Federation of Fertility Societies showed a rapid rise in the number of IVF clinics set up around the world.

Dr Francoise Shenfield, of University College Hospital, London, who co-ordinated the study, said UK women went abroad because access to IVF on the NHS was "not very good" and it was very expensive in the private sector.