Mangalore :
Kasturba hospital celebrated 23 years of Manipal Assisted Reproduction Centre (MARC) and the birth of 4,200 babies, a land mark milestone at a function at The TMA Pai Hall on Sunday.
Among the audience were children born through MARC and their parents. Dr G.K. Prabhu, Registrar, Manipal University, Manipal, the chief guest expressed happiness at the work being done by MARC over many years for the benefit of the society and mankind. There was a cake cutting to commemorate the long years of service by Master Naman, the first test tube baby born here in 1999.
Dr Pratap Kumar, Professor and Head of MARC gave on overview of how MARC which started in the year 1990 and has reached to this level of high success in the field of Infertility. He said that MARC began with simple procedures and later started the test tube baby 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. About 3000 babies are born through IVF procedures he said.
MARC offers a wide range of treatment programmes 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 sub fertility problems. The pioneering technological improvements make MARC one of the most advanced centers for the treatment of infertility in India.
MARC focusses on research programmes for improving the quality of management of sub fertile couples. Research works on animal models are being carried out and this is one of the IVF centres in the country associated with University hospital. In 1998 IVF was started and February 18, 1999, was a very special day for MARC as the first test tube baby was born on that day. A magic show by Jr. Shankar was held mainly for the children who had come, was done with great skills which was appreciated by all. Dr Satish Kumar Adiga, Chief Embryologist and Professor of Clinical embryology and Dr (Col) M Dayananda, Medical Superintendent, Kasturba Hospital, Manipal were also present.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mangalore / by Stanley Pinto, TNN / February 02nd, 2014