Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Is Malpani Infertility Clinic expensive ?


There are some patients who believe that we charge too much for IVF treatment . They compare the prices at Malpani Infertility Clinic with what their local clinic charges, and feel that we charge a premium. They feel this is unfair. After all, don’t all IVF clinics offer the same treatment ? Then how can we justify charging more ? Is it because we are greedy ?

While it is true that IVF treatment at a good clinic is expensive , it’s actually a bargain as compared to doing IVF in a bad clinic in order to save money .

There are many reasons why we believe our charges are cost effective. For one, they are open and transparent . Unlike the vast majority of Indian IVF clinic, we publish them in black and white on our website, which means patients do not suffer from sticker shock when they get the bill.

We pride ourselves in providing a high quality service, where patients come first. This means that our patients always have access directly to me, without having to go through assistants and juniors. We do not employ any assistants, and while this means we can provide care only to a limited number of patients, this also ensures that the quality of care is unsurpassed. This is also the reason we only have one clinic. We do not travel to any other clinic, and are always available in Mumbai for our patients.

How is the poor patient supposed to make out whether the IVF clinic they have chosen follows best practices ? After all, it’s very hard to judge the quality of medical services because they are intangible. Here’s a simple experiment you can try at your present clinic. Try to contact the head IVF doctor – the brand name doctor for whom you pay your fees, in order to get treatment from the best, and see how long it takes to get a reply.

In our clinic, we guarantee a reply directly from me within 24 hours. Isn't this confidence of always being able to get my advice invaluable? We store all your records electronically so we have instant access to them 24/7, and this ensures we can craft a personalized plan of action for you.

We have a highly qualified , experienced and full-time skilled embryologist ; and we use state-of-the-art equipment to provide cutting edge medical care. This combination allows us to provide high-tech high touch care to our patients. Because of our focus on quality , we ensure we provide personalized attention to all our patients, we don't cut corners .

Yes, it’s true that there are many clinics which charge less than what we do . However, we are not in the business of trying to compete with other clinics for offering the lowest fees. We are proud to compete as regards our quality of care and pregnancy rates. If we need to continue to provide a service which put patients first , we will not compromise on our quality of care by reducing fees , just in order to compete with other clinics. However, we do provide discounts and subsidized treatments to financially deserving patients.

Lots of clinics ( especially the ones which run national chains ) charge less than what we do. They try to compete on price, so that they can attract more patients . Sadly, the price the patient pays in order to save some money is that they often end up reducing their chances of getting pregnant significantly .
Many of these clinics will take short cuts and not follow basic IVF protocols such as documenting photographs of the embryos and providing these routinely and proactively to their patients . In fact, some of these clinics charge the patient a hefty premium for using an embryoscope, by claiming that this increases pregnancy rates. However, in reality they don’t do so ( the point of an embryoscope is that it generates photos of the embryos as these are dividing in the incubator) , and the poor patient is none the wiser, because of the lack of transparency. 

If you’d rather be treated in an assembly line clinic which has lots of doctors in white coats milling around, then Malpani Clinic is not the right place for you. On the other hand, if you’d rather be treated hands on by an IVF expert with years of experience, then we are a great choice.

6 comments:

  1. parmindar9:37 AM

    The bundle of joy of life can never be compared with the expenses for treatment...when we get the joy of our life we forget about the expensed incurred....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Parmindar,

      That's so true. The trouble is that the pregnancy rate is not a 100% - and the treatment can be expensive ! Patients cannot afford to waste their hard-earned money in bad IVF clinics which have low success rates

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:41 PM

      Just because you forget the expenses incurred, it doesn't mean you had a fair bargain ! An IVF cycle's basic cost would be anywhere between 25,000-30,000 rupees. Have you ever wondered why IVF clinics charge so much ? The only explanation I find is, doctors have made this as a businesses to satisfy their hunger for money. Have you thought about people who can't have their bundle of joy ( a catchy marketing phrase ! ) because they can't afford to have this unfairly costly infertility treatment ?

      Delete
    3. Dear Anonymous,

      So what's the solution ?

      If you think the problem is that doctors are hungry for money, then how would you address the problem so that more infertile couples could get IVF treatment ?

      Fortunately, we live in a capitalistic society, and if you think you can provide quality IVF services at a lower cost as compared to what are available today, then why not become an entrepreneur and start a chain of IVF
      clinics ? You'll make a fortune if what you are saying is right !

      The trouble is that consumables and disposables are not the only costs the clinic incurs during an IVF cycle.

      A constructive solution would be one where the Govt provides subsidised IVF treatment in government hospitals; or that health insurers cover IVF treatment
      And if clinics don't make a profit, how will they survive ?

      Delete
  2. Sir, I had failed IVF-ICSI due to non fertilization of two eggs retrieved from 09 follicle grown by super stimulation procedure, Dr. says this may be due to bad egg quality, I m 32 yrs only, my husbands sperm count is 5 million/ml with 50% mobility, my AMH level is 2.99 pg/ml, is it possible to have empty follicles as the dr. said or can egg quality be this bad as early as 32 yrs old?....sir how much does ur clinic charge for a IVF-ICSI cycle & what are the chance of me conceiving with poor egg quality?? pls help sir, thanks...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DearSomnath,

      This is hard to explain ! Was this a good clinic ?
      Often the reason for poor fertilisation after ICSI could be a poor quality IVF lab, rather than poor quality eggs.

      Doctors are often happy to blame the eggs and sperm of the patients when IVF results are poor, when often the problem is with the lab !

      An AMH of 2.99 is quite normal, and in a 32 year old with this level one would expect to get good quality eggs

      Can you send me more details about your IVF cycle ? What were the meds which were used for
      superovulation ? What was the dose used ? How many follicles did you grow ? How many eggs were collected ? What was the E2 ( estradiol) level in the blood ? What was the endometrial thickness ?
      How many embryos were transferred ?
      What was the embryo quality ? DO YOU HAVE PHOTOS OF YOUR EMBRYOS ? You can see what embryos should look like at http://www.drmalpani.com/embryos.htm
      Can you please send me the printed treatment summary from your IVF clinic ?

      Delete

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