UK IVF pioneers launches first UAE clinic to store embryos safely
UK-based Bourn Hall Clinic, the world’s original IVF clinic, has launched its first services in the UAE.
Its state-of-the-art fertility and assisted conception facility has opened in the Sheikh Hamdan Centre in Dubai.
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The clinic features the region’s only “clean room” laboratory, ensuring patients’ embryos are cared for in the optimum environment, the company said in a statement.
Dr Mike Macnamee, CEO of Bourn Hall International, said: “Bourn Hall Clinic is a pioneer in the global healthcare arena. We intend to maintain this position, hence the first advanced controlled-access ‘clean room’ laboratory presence in the 22,000 sq ft clinic.”
He added: “The laboratory, constructed in accordance with the highest international standards, provides safe and supportive storage and development of embryos, increasing the likelihood of a positive outcome.”
Bourn Hall Clinic is the world’s original IVF clinic co-founded in 1980 by Professor Robert Edwards and Patrick Steptoe, after pioneering the first birth of a child conceived using IVF in 1978.
Edwards received the Nobel Prize for Medicine for his achievements in December 2010, and a Knighthood in 2011.
Adil Alzarooni, CEO at Alzarooni Emirates Investments, the local partner of Bourn Hall Clinic, said: “Our organisation is committed to further the development of the healthcare sector in Dubai by joining efforts with the global leaders in their field.
“The clinic has raised the bar on UAE’s abilities and offerings in assisted conception locally and regionally, presenting married couples more options with higher success rates.”
Government and private hospitals in the Gulf are expected to open more IVF centres to cope with soaring demand for the treatment among infertile couples.
Healthcare operators and government agencies are thought to be expanding their existing offerings or opening new centres, to deal with increasing infertility rates in the region.
