Infertility

A leading infertility clinic is appealing for women from Asian communities to consider becoming egg donors, after a marked increase in the number of Asian women asking for their help to have a baby.

Private infertility clinic Manchester Fertility, which is based in Cheadle Royal Business Park, currently has ten Asian women waiting for an egg donor.

Normally, women needing donor eggs can be treated immediately as there are no waiting lists for women seeking treatment using Caucasian donor eggs.

But patients who are seeking an Asian egg, so their child can be of similar ethnic background and culture as themselves, are either having to wait or must seek treatment abroad.

Lynnsey McHugh, Unit Director of Manchester Fertility, says: “We are one of the few infertility clinics in the UK which doesn’t have a waiting list for treatment using either donor eggs or donor sperm, thanks to our strong donor recruitment programme and reputation for excellent donor care.

“But it seems that awareness of egg donation is low amongst the established Asian communities in our region.

“We’re sure that if more women realised that there is a shortage, we would see more coming forward to donate eggs.

“We have a strong number of Asian sperm donors, but sadly not Asian egg donors. The only choice these women face now is to wait for the right donor, or to travel abroad for treatment, which carries risks as foreign clinics and egg donation screening may not be as strictly regulated as in the UK.”

Lynnsey continues: “We want nothing more than to help these women as soon as we can. There are many reasons why they need to use an egg donor to have a family – from medical treatment which has affected their fertility, to age-related infertility where their own egg quality is low and unlikely to result in successful treatment.

“We understand that egg donation – and indeed sperm donation – can be a taboo subject for some, but infertility can affect anyone and want to get the message out that there to the local Asian communities that could be someone in your community, right now, who is relying on someone like you to help them have a family.”