Media release
Udupi, Apr 25: The Manipal Assisted Reproduction Centre (MARC), Kasturba Hospital, MAHE Manipal celebrated 33 years of services for infertile couples and announced the birth of 10,000 babies at a function on April 24, 2022 at Dr TMA Pai Auditorium, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal.
A lot of games were organized for the children which was highly appreciated by children and parents who came for “MARC DAY.” A good number of children born through MARC procedure were there for the celebration. The oldest IVF child is now 23 years.
Dr Avinash Shetty, the Medical Superintendent of Kasturba Hospital, Manipal was the guest of honour for the program. He expressed his good feelings for MARC and the work done over many years for the benefit of the society and mankind.
Dr Pratap Kumar, Professor and Head of MARC gave an overview of how MARC was started in the year 1990 and has reached to this level of high success in the field of Infertility. Dr Pratap said that MARC began with simple procedures and later started the test tube baby (IVF) procedure in 1998.
The IVF procedure involves fertilization of the egg from the wife and the sperm of the husband outside the body and then putting the embryo in the womb of the woman to grow. The first IVF baby was born on February 18, 1999. He also said that MARC offers a wide range of treatment programs for sub-fertile couples seeking assisted conception.
It is backed by the experience of expert doctors and scientists who have taken specialized training abroad and have been working with subfertility problems. The pioneering technological improvements make MARC one of the most advanced centers for the treatment of infertility in India.
The centre has a fully equipped andrology laboratory for male sub fertility evaluation and semen banking for short term and long term storage. The Embryology laboratory has all modern facilities in par with International students. The Centre does laparoscopic & hysteroscopic surgery for fertility enhancement.
About 300 children had come for the occasion. Dr Satish Adiga, professor & chief embryologist of MARC was also present at the function.