Valley’s maternity hospital gets fertility centre

Azhar Qadri
Tribune News Service
Srinagar, June 10

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Hundreds of married couples suffering from infertility problem in the Kashmir valley now have a ray of hope as the region’s main maternity hospital has launched a fertility centre.

Shabir Sidique, medical superintendent of Lal Ded Hospital in Srinagar, said the centre would be operational six days a week and was a first of its kind facility in the government sector in the  Valley.

“It is a first step towards starting a full-fledged fertility centre,” he told The Tribune. “Infertility is treatable in most cases, but it had huge financial implications as the treatment was available either in private sector or patients had to travel outside the Kashmir valley,” he said.

The fertility centre was launched last week at Lal Ded Hospital. The state-of-the-art centre is likely to be a relief for hundreds of married couples who suffer from infertility, which is witnessing an alarming rate in the Valley.

Sidique said 13 to 15 per cent couples in Jammu and Kashmir suffer from infertility out of which nearly 90 per cent were treatable cases.

A recent study by a group of doctors had noted that infertility rate in Kashmir valley was at 15.7 per cent which they described as “tragedy” and “alarming” and also concluded that the understanding of infertility was “too narrow”.

The study evaluated the attitudes and awareness of people about infertility in Kashmir valley and performed a cross-sectional survey in which 210 married people — 105 men and 105 women — were randomly selected. “The results of our study revealed that less percentage of men and women were familiar with infertility causes and treatments,” it said.