Medical Tourism in India, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia

The term ‘outsourcing’ in India, not just refers to core industries like IT and textiles these days. Medical outsourcing in the form of medical tourism has taken the medical industry by storm. As if this weren’t enough a new wave of reproductive outsourcing is tearing down geographical frontiers and redefining the basic concepts of conception and child birth.

Yes….reproductive outsourcing is a boon to millions of couples who long to have a child of their own but cannot do so for various reasons. When surrogacy becomes the only option to have a child, cost and societal factors may become obstacles for couples in some countries. Some European countries have still not made surrogacy legal. In US, surrogacy is riddled with legal complications and it turns out to be an expensive affair, something only a select few can afford. Furthermore, couples are always worried about the smoking, drinking and drug habits of the surrogate mothers. These are the primary reasons why Indian surrogate mothers or reproductive outsourcing is gaining popularity among Europeans and Americans.

In the case of reproductive outsourcing, the egg/sperm from an Indian donor is fertilized with the egg/sperm from one of the parents and the child is grown in the womb of a surrogate mother in India. The parents then, fly in to collect the child after nine months. The availability of skilled medical professionals, plenty of healthy women ready for surrogacy, relatively liberal laws and low prices are attracting several couples from all over the world.

The cost of this whole episode is $25,000, just a third of the cost in the United States. And this includes air tickets and hotels for two trips to India – one for the fertilization and one to collect the baby, entire medical procedures and payment to the surrogate mother.

The entire process is made foolproof as surrogate mothers sign away their rights to the children, under the guidelines issued by Indian Council of Medical Research. Also, most hospitals do not permit contact between egg donor, surrogate mother or future parents. The donor and surrogate are always different women as doctors perceive that surrogates are less likely to bond with the babies if there is no genetic connection.

Right now, reproductive outsourcing seems like a win-win situation as both parties get what they seek. The couple gets the child they long for and the surrogate mother gets the money she badly needs. The doctors and the hospitals too gain monetarily. The future for this new form of outsourcing looks promising, indeed!