Faq’s

A pregnancy lasts typically for 40 weeks which is divided into three main stages known as trimesters. Each trimester lasts for 3 months. The fetus undergoes various physiological changes throughout the period of maturation.

These include: Trimester 1 (Pregnancy 1-3 months) At this stage, the embryo gets implanted in the endometrium. The umbilical cord and placenta assists in protecting the unborn child from the bumps and delivers food to the baby. By the end of the third month, the baby will have its complete organs developed and it starts to move slowly in the womb. The heartbeat will be around 120-160 per minute, but the pregnant mother may not be able to feel the struggles of the child in the womb. The tendency of vomiting is strong during the first trimester which makes folic acid play a pivotal role in pregnancy. Trimester 2 ( Pregnancy 4-6 months) At this stage, the baby begins to move more in its mother’s womb and begins other processes like swallowing, hair growth on its body including eyebrows and eyelashes. The brain also develops and lung function also develops to a large extent. The mother can feel the movement of the baby at this stage. It is essential increment multi-vitamins intake for pregnant mothers at this stage Trimester 3 (Pregnancy 7-9 months) At this stage, the baby is fully developed sand completes its growth. the baby starts to turn around and its head moves towards the vagina to get ready for delivery. This is a crucial stage for the mothers and they need to be very catios as they need to be ready for delivery.

You may experience some or all of the following symptoms during your pregnancy:

• Pain in abdomen and chest
• Urge to urinate often
• Constipation
• Back pain
• Morning sickness
• Tender breasts
• Indigestion
• Varicose veins
• Leg cramps
• Tiredness and fatigue
• Nasal problems and shortness of breath
• Dizziness and fainting
• Vaginal thrush
• Food cravings and aversions
• Stretch marks
• Acne
• Dry skin

If these symptoms become very difficult to manage, one should consult the doctor.

Your eating habits will directly affect the developing baby in the womb. Gaining weight during pregnancy is quite normal, but it should be done healthily. Diet plays a crucial role along with exercise in a healthy pregnancy and delivery. The Dietary Guidelines of Nutrition has laid down a list of the top food items which should be consumed during pregnancy to get adequate nutrients. Some of these include:

It is one of the most common queries among patients who undergo IVF treatment. The answer to this query is that the medications are essential before IVF treatment because, without the use of fertility medications, the ovaries may not release multiple eggs during the menstrual cycle. Without medications, only one egg is produced in the menstrual cycle, and it may not be of an optimal level. Hence, customised prepared medication is administered to optimise the number of eggs to be harvested to increase the chances of a successful pregnancy after the IVF treatment cycle.

No, there isn’t any age limit to get IVF treatment. The patients are advised to undergo a series of tests for assessment of their fertility level to determine their chances of success with this treatment. Based on these assessment relations, we can determine how likely is it to obtain a good count of eggs of the desired quality for a healthy pregnancy. Experts suggest that females above 35 have much lesser chances of success as their fertility declines after this age unless the females have satisfactory hormone levels which may increase the probability of healthy and faster pregnancy.

A series of assessments are required to check the level of fitness and fertility level of the patients. The tests are also carried out to screen for any infectious diseases in the patients. Every test is done to serve different purposes which has a direct implication on the treatment.

Assessment for fertility

For assessment of the fertility level of the patients, they require the following tests to be done on the 2nd or 3rd day of their menstrual cycle:

• FSH
• LH
• Prolactin
• Estradiol Save
• TSM
• AMH
• Antral follicle count in ovaries
• Baseline pelvic ultrasound

The male patients are required to have a semen analysis to observe their sperm parameters such as volume, count, morphology, motility, PH level and round cell count. A minor infection in the man’s sperm levels could lead to a compromise on the entire procedure and affect results negatively.

Assessment of infectious disease

All patients undergoing the treatment of IVF are also required to undergo assessment for the screening of any infectious disease. The tests which need to be done include:

For female patients:

• Anti-HIV
• VDRL
• Rubella IgG
• Toxoplasmosis IgG
• Anti-HCV
• CMV IgG

For male patients:

• Anti-HCV
• Anti-HIV
• VDRL
• HbsAg

There are three main reasons which make this test essential:

To protect the spread of any infectious disease ar our labs which exposes other patients to the disease too.
To avoid the exposure of the embryo to infectious diseases which originates from the patents
To protect the personnel of the la from the infectious diseases while they handle the sperms and eggs.

The results of the infectious diseases assessment test are valid for a period of 6 months. As long as the patients get their tests done within six months prior to their IVF treatment, a repeat of this test is not required. The test results from reputable hospitals, clinics or diagnostic centres are only accepted, and the original test results need to be present at the time of the first visit for IVF treatment.

Thirty per cent of the infertile couples suffers from a condition called tubal dysfunction. Diagnostic imaging tests are done to observe the fallopian tube damage before treatment. The fallopian tubes can be assessed in two ways, namely Hysterosalpingo contrast Sonography (HyCoSy) which is a variation of the standard sonography. In this imaging procedure, a contrasting agent is utilised for obtaining visuals of the leakages in the fallopian tubes. This test gives a clearer picture compared to the standard pelvic sonography. When there is leakage detected in the patent tubes of the patient, it indicates that there are no blockages, and when the opposite picture is seen, it indicates that the tubes are either blocked or damaged. However, the blockage or damage in the fallopian tubes is the only factor that influences infertility. The uterine conditions also play a key role in leading to infertility conditions. To assess the uterine condition, Hysteroscopy or Hysterosalpingography (HSG) is the standard imaging technique used for assessment.

Hysteroscopy imaging technique provides a panoramic vision of the patient’s uterine cavity. This process can help us to also carry out a direct biopsy of the possible lesions with this procedure. This method is one of the most accurate processes to diagnose and assess intra-uterine problems. Hysteroscopy is only limited to the assessment of the Uterus and uterine factors and cannot be used to analyse the anatomy of the fallopian tubes.

The HSG, on the other hand, is a more advanced imaging technique to assess the uterine factors and fallopian tubes as well. In this process, a dye is injected into the Uterus. The anatomy of the uterus and the fallopian tubes can be imaged once the dye flows into the fallopian tubes using a steady beam of X-ray. The pictures accurately depict any abnormality or damage in the Uterus or the fallopian tubes.

X-ray beams which are used for imaging during the HSG procedure involve some amount of radiation to the patient. So even though it is an effective imaging technique, the radiation can harm some patients. Hence, HyCoSy is first preferred and regarded to be a better imaging technique for uterine pathology compared to standard sonography. It does not use any radiations compared to the HSG and is considered to be a safer method. Hysteroscopy is used mostly for assessment of tubal patency, and this imaging technique is combined with sonography. This combination of Hysteroscopy and sonography is safer, easier and minimally invasive procedure to the HSG imaging procedure.

Firstly all medical test reports are gathered of the patient to analyse and begin with the first-line treatment, which includes fertility medicines. Clear instructions are provided on the dosage and administration of the medicines before final embryo transfer procedure.

Administration of the fertility medicines is quite easy, and these subcutaneous injections are administered under the skin. The doctors provide clear instructions on the doses which need to be mixed and arranged for administering the injections.

You will notice that once the required dosage of medicines is used from the vial, some medicines may be leftover and stored in the freezer to use it for the next day’s dose.

We try to minimise the duration of the stay of our foreign patients as we understand how difficult it is for them to take time off from their daily commitments. You can carry out the preliminary tests locally and need to visit us for only six days for the entire treatment process which includes final scans, triggers injection, retrieval of eggs, ICSI for the fertilisation process and the final embryo process.

We try to ensure that your stay in Thailand is quite pleasant. From our end, we make arrangements for discounts on hotel accommodation to cater to different budgets.

A beta Hcg test should be done after completion of 12 days of embryo transfer to detect the levels of the HCG hormones in the blood. This is the specific hormone that is released immediately after conceiving and this gives a more accurate result compared to the pregnancy test which may not be able to detect pregnancy at least 16 days after the successful embryo transfer. Hence it is recommended to schedule a beta test 12 days after the embryo transfer procedure for most accurate results.

There are specific guidelines provided after the embryo transfer process. Once the embryo transfer is successfully performed, there is not much to be done for conception. However strict precautions need to be taken to prevent jeopardising the process which can bring negative results, these include having a healthy diet and not indulging in too rigorous physical activities which can impact the embryo’s ability to implant.

The cost of the IVF treatment at  IVF clinic is approximately 2500 THB. The cost includes the various scans and tests which are done before the IVF treatment. However, the preliminary testing, fertility medicines s, flight costs, and accommodation is not included in this.

The egg donors who donate eggs at the Medicare Vacation IVF clinic are mostly the international students who study at the universities in Thailand. They are local donors also who donate eggs but that is comparatively lower in the population of egg donors compared to the international students. To find a suitable match for an egg donor, a donor-recipient form needs to be filled where the request needs to be specified on the kind of egg donor you are looking for your treatment. Once your requirements are recorded, the egg donors list is narrowed down to choose from the few matching egg donor profiles. These requirements include physical information of the donor and the egg donor’s ethnicity and background.

For a female to be an egg donor they need to fulfill certain criteria’s:

• The female should be between the ages of 19-28. Though most of our egg donors are aged between 19-25 years.
• The BMI level should be within the normal range
• The female must have her infectious disease screening and her results should be negative.
• The hormonal levels should be in the optimal fertility range
• The egg donor female should be a non-smoker and should drink only occasionally.
• The egg donor should not have any genetic disorder in her immediate family.
• The female should not be a carrier of Beta Thalassemia
• The potential egg donor should pass the psychological evaluation

Additional tests are administered to the donors on request. It is not a standard process to have egg donors undergo genetic tests like genetic disorder or karyotyping but if she thinks she needs the test, we provide on additional tests. If you derive from a region that has a predisposition to genetic disorders, then the donor requires theses additional tests at extra cost.

If you utilize the egg donor for IVF treatment then more than half the genetics for the child derives from the egg donor and the other half comes from the sperm partner. Though on request the egg donor who resembles your physical features can be matched carefully to have a maximum possible resemblance to the birth mother. The main features such as skin color, eye, hair color, and body shape can be matched of the unborn child top get maximum resemblance.

There is a law to maintain donor’s anonymity laws prevalent in Thailand, and hence we cannot share the donor’s personal information or their photographs. This implies that you cannot meet the egg donor. Though you are provided with the egg donor’s profile which includes educational background, ethnicity, medical history, occupation, and physical features. However, if you want to see the photograph of the egg donor and it is absolutely essential for you then we can arrange for egg donors from an international agency. Though the cost would be much higher around 150000-200000 THB which includes the donor’s medical expenses, flights and accommodation charges in Thailand. If you want to use a known egg donor then you can intimate us and we can do the needful arrangements.

Egg donation is an integral part of IVF treatment where the recipient of the eggs used for the IVF treatment is different from the biological owner of the egg. This treatment provides a solution for the women who have an ovarian failure or those who have had repeated IVF treatment failures with their own eggs. Using these donated eggs has been a controversy since long, and ethical debates mostly focus on financial compensations of the donor, religious factors and right to parenthood. The medical field recently seems to debate over the point whether the egg donors should be kept anonymous or not. Or whether the unborn child should be given the right to know his/her biological (egg donor) mother once he reaches legal age. The historical idea of donor anonymity has been challenged in the last twenty years and it reflects in the legal framework as well. In the UK, the donor anonymity regulation has been removed and any egg donation after the year 2005 needs to be registered on the database so that the child can have the right to contact their biological mother in the future. The secrecy of the egg donor’s concept has been greatly opposed. This stigma has been widely changing due to many new technologies that make fertility possible. Many couples do not feel ashamed of taking these services today to become parents. Though anonymity is prevalent still today, many countries are opting for non-anonymity and many laws have also bent to bring in the change.

The IVF treatment which uses an egg donor has the highest probability of success. There are many reasons for the high success rate with IVF treatment using an egg donor. These include:

• All egg donors are healthy and young females. In most countries, the maximum age for egg donation is 35.
• Our clinic at Thailand is equipped with the latest state-of-art technologies
• We call the egg donors who have previously contributed to a successful pregnancy for re-donation. Each donor can donate up to 5 times.
• We can transfer multiple embryos which increases the chances of success for pregnancy.

You can visit our ‘Success Rate’ page on the official website to get more detailed information on the success cases at our IVF treatment centre .

The cost of IVF treatment with egg donors cost around 150000-200000 THB in Thailand. The cost of donor eggs is much lower compared to other countries like the UK or the USA. The egg donation cost is inclusive of egg donor’s medicines and compensation. You can visit our official website ‘IVF with Egg Donation’ page to get complete details on the affordable egg donor programs and the process to get them in our clinic.

We try to minimize the stay for our traveling patients as we understand that they have left behind many commitments and family behind in the hometown. Hence, we facilitate with renowned clinics in your hometown for preliminary tests to cut down your stay by 5-6 days. You can arrive at the Thailand clinic on the day of the egg donation and obtain the free sample and then proceed with the treatment accordingly. If you feel comfortable residing for a longer duration of 18-19 days then all preliminary tests and treatment can be done at our Thailand clinic.

We ensure that adequate arrangements are made for your pleasant stay in Thailand. We have agreements with few hotels for accommodation at discounted tariffs. We offer different hotels based on your budget. The hotels are in close vicinity to our clinic. You can refer to our ‘Accommodation’ page to get the entire prospectus of different accommodation options to suit different budgets.

The beta HCG are hormones released immediately after conceiving. The beta HCG test should be administered 12 days after the embryo transfer to confirm pregnancy. A value between 5mIU/mL to 10 IU/mL indicates mild pregnant. Hence, if these values are obtained a re-test should be administered within a period of 48 hours after the initial test.

There are specific guidelines provided to you after the embryo transfer. You can carry out your daily chores without any problems but too much physical strenuous exercises are not recommended. It is important to review the guidelines handed to you after embryo transfer and clarify all doubts with our IVF specialists.

Though the chances of success with egg donation with IVF treatment is high, we still need to ensure that you are fit for pregnancy. There are no major issues though which can interfere with pregnancy. The initial scans ad tests are essential to find out the fertility level and hormone function to accordingly plan the IVF treatment.

Yes, you can send frozen semen samples to our IVF clinic for ICSI treatment with the eggs or oocytes which we obtained from our egg donors. We have successfully sent oocytes to many other countries like the US, South Africa, Europe, and Georgia. Unless there are no specific laws in your country which prohibit the transfer of human gametes we can send embryos abroad. However, before beginning the treatment few simple steps needs to be followed. These are: The semen analysis is essential to measure the parameters of the semen. This is important to ensure that the semen sample satisfies the minimum criteria for freezing and thawing. You need to ensure with a local clinic of your hometown on the requirements for processing and transporting the frozen semen sample to another clinic.

Yes, if one of your relatives offers you to donate eggs for embryo transfer or you know an egg donor from an international agency, you can share their details with us. We will do the needful to accommodate this for the treatment. It is essential for your egg donor to undergo hormonal and fertility tests before egg donation to customize a treatment protocol to optimize the outcome of the donation. Some standards hormonal tests and other scans include TSH, AMH, FSH, LH, Estradio, Prolactin, and transvaginal ultrasound which is to be performed on the 2nd or 3rd day of the menstrual cycle with transvaginal ultrasound to detect the number of atrial follicle count of every ovary. These tests are also necessary to ensure there are no cysts in the ovaries to interfere with the donation proves.

We use only certified sperms which are obtained from reputable sperm banks in the United States and Europe. The sperms come with a certification from these sperm banks which certifies its authenticity and purity. The sperm certificate is only attainable after extensive testing of the sperm samples at certain set intervals to ensure that the sperm samples do bot gave contain any infectious disease or generic defects. This is helpful to guarantee our patients that the sperms which are used in IVF treatment have no defects. The international sperm banks offer a wide variety donor selection based on the geographic location, race, ethnicity and many other criteria’s. To get an effective marching sperm you need to fill a sperm recipient form to match the requirements of your sperm donor. Based upon your specifications, we narrow down the wide pool of sperm banks in Thailand to find the one which you want. Donor anonymity is a must according to the tissues, organs and cells directive under the Thailand legal regulations act. The photographs of sperm donors nor their contact information can be provided with the sperm recipients. The sperm donor’s code can be spared for the European sperm donors. Certain specific information about specific sperm donors can be accessed about the sperm donor from the sperm bank’s website.

The success rate after sperm donations depends on a number of factors which includes age of the female patients, quality of the egg, uterine factor, ovarian reserves, and cervical factors. Even if the sperm is of a high-quality standards, if the female parameters are not satisfactory it can affect the success rate. For instance, if female patients are above the age of 35 it is difficult to get good quality eggs which sets the ground for favourable pregnancy rates.

At Medicare Vacation IVF treatment centre we emphasize on the importance of screening and testing of the patients prior to administering any fertility treatment. It is the pre-requisite to optimise the outcome of any fertility treatment. The female patients needs to be thoroughly evaluated with a series of fertility tests to customise IVF treatment protocols for each patient to maximise the success probability of pregnancy.

The sperm donor IVF treatment costs around 4000 THB. This cost is inclusive of the cost of the donor’s cost, and the medical procedures which are part of the IVF sperm donation process. These include ICSI, oocyte retrieval, and embryo transfer and consultations with the local doctor as well. The medications and pre-testing cost is not inclusive in this. The accommodation and air fare charges are also not included. There is an additional charge of 200 THB for screening of infectious diseases both the partners which needs to be performed. It is essential to conduct infectious disease screening as a safety protocol to minimise the risk if cross-contamination of the samples by the pathogens present in the blood which can affect the lab staff who are handling the laboratory testing. This testing is necessary for the patient as well to guarantee that our centre guarantees good care of your blood samples in our laboratory.

Every female patient who undergoes IVF treatment requires medications to stimulate the ovaries for desirable quality and quantity of eggs to optimise the IVF treatment. The type type of medicines, dosage and the duration of administering of the medicines depends largely on the female patient’s ovaries functionality. The medications are usually administered through sub-cutaneous injectors under the skin. The detailed information about the medicines and its doses are given with the customised treatment protocol after the screening of the female’s fertility system.

Most patients leave behind work, family and many other commitments to get complete treatment at Thailand. It becomes very difficult to stay for a long period in Thailand. Hence, our IVF centre has established links with reputed clinics abroad for the patients to complete their preliminary tests and screening in their local town before arriving in our IVF centre in Thailand for the final treatment phase for embryo transfer. Some patients who want to get the entire treatment including initial test screenings to final embryo transfer need to stay at Thailand for 18 to 19 days starting from the first day of the menstrual cycle.

We offer varied accommodation options to suit different budgets. The accommodation options offered by our IVF centre in Thailand includes complimentary transfers on ground which includes transfers to and fro to the airport and trips to the hospital. However, if you opt for accommodation which is not offered by the hospital then the complimentary transfers on the ground will not be provided. For detailed information on the accommodation options, we offer please visit our ‘Accommodation Page’ on the official website.

A hormonal chemical known as beta Hcg is released immediately after pregnancy occurs. After 12 days after completion of embryo transfer, a beta Hcg test is administered to test for pregnancy. The beta hcg level should be 5mIU/mL to indicate pregnancy. A result between 5-10 mIU/mL is considered to be considerably ‘low’ to suggest late implantation or chemical pregnancy. If such low results are obtained, a re-test should be administered to monitor the progress of pregnancy within 48 hours after the initial beta Hcg test. If the second test result indicates a significant increase in the results, pregnancy would then be confirmed.

There are specific guidelines provided to the patient after completion of the embryo transfer process. You can visit our page on ‘Embryo Transfer’ to get complete guidelines on precautions you should take after the embryo transfer process. There are many things such as drinking, smoking or indulging in too much strenuous physical activities which should be avoided after embryo transfer. For instance, sexual intercourse, swimming in the public pools, consuming caffeinated products and fizzy drinks should be avoided. If the guidelines are not clear, one should consult the doctor, nurses or patient co-coordinator for clarification.

Yes, you can use the sperm donors you know for your IVF treatment.  The hospital sperm bank has existing sperm samples which can be used by the patients. If the patients wish to order their choice of sperm samples from a sperm bank outside the hospital they can do so. Few sperm banks allow you to see the picture of the sperm donor and other limited information before you order a sperm sample to be tested in our clinic. By making use of the sperm donor samples which are available at our clinics, it will be more nominally priced because we order sperm samples in bulk quantities. If you order samples from your choice of a sperm bank, getting every sperm sample shipped to our clinic and the payment for the entire fee for shipping will cost you much higher. Every sperm you get from outside needs to be tested at our clinic before use.

The Medicare Vacation IVF centre does not have any requirements to be married to receive IVF treatment. Hence, single women can get IVF treatments using sperm donors. The single women can opt for non-invasive IVF treatment at a younger age in their early 20’s to 30’s. Women who are elder above the age of ’30s have lower chances of success with IUI treatments.