Cost factor of our treatment until now

In this post, I will reveal some financial implications of our treatment until now (Jun'12 to Mar'13, which included Problem diagnosis, Hysteroscopy, TESE and Egg Retrieval).

Consultation Fees of Dr. Joshitha Naik & Dr. Mahendra Jain in Lady Hospital (LH) were Rs.250 each, way back in mid 2012, (and Rs.100 as one time Registration Fees).

--->   4 visits to Dr.Naik and 1 visit to Dr.Jain cost about Rs.1350 (including Reg Fee)

Ultrasound Scan Pelvis in LH was Rs.800. This was done just once.


SA in LH was Rs.300; in SRL Diagnostics was Rs.220;

-->   2 SA tests in LH & 6 SA tests in SRL cost about Rs.1920

Consultation Fees of Dr. Uma Maheshwari was Rs.325 in Sure Fertility (and Rs.100 as one time Registration Fees); Dr. Ravish I.R. was Rs.500 in Lucid Diagnostics (and Rs.100 as one time Registration Fees).

--->   1 visit to Dr.Maheswari and 2 visits to Dr.Ravish cost about Rs.1525 (including Reg Fee)

Consultation Fees of Dr. Madhuri Patil was Rs.1000 in Dr. Patil's Fertility & Endoscopy Clinic (which included Ultrasound Scan Pelvis. We visited her just once.

Each strip of I-Sure Ovulation Kit costed Rs.100 then.
--->   10 such kits cost about Rs.1000

FSH and LH Tests costed Rs.325 each in St. John's Medical College and Hospital. It was done just once.

Consultation Fees of Dr. Bina Vasan & Dr. Vasan S.S. in Manipal Hospital Bangalore (MHB) were Rs.400 each, way back in 2012 end, (and Rs.100 as one time Registration Fees).

---> 20 visits in MHB cost about Rs.8000 (including both docs)

Ultrasound Scan Pelvis in MHB was Rs.550 in Sep'12.

--->   This was done 10 times, costing about Rs.5500

SA, Sperm Function Test (SFT) and DNA Fragmentation Index (DFI) in MHB was charged at Rs.340, Rs.470 and Rs.1850 resp.

--->   This was done 3 times, costing about Rs.7980

Tablet Penegra 50mg (5 tablets) and Paternia (20 tablets) costed Rs.118 and Rs.800 in MHB. However, Paternia (20 tablets) in Apollo Pharmacy was sold at Rs.362.89 only (no fake or expired tablets).

--->   Medicines taken for 6 months cost about Rs.14400

Free T4, TSH, T3 in Clumax Diagnostics costed Rs.450, Rs.250 and Rs.200 resp.

---> Above tests done just once costing about Rs.900

Hysteroscopy procedure (Half-day care) costed us Rs.29170 in Feb'13 (Rs.25000 fixed for OT & procedure and balance amount for bed charges & misc. stuff).

TESE performed on DH in Feb'13 cost us about Rs.20840.

In Mar'13, Injection Gonal-F 300 IU/0.5ml was sold at Rs.8020, Injection Persinal HP-75 IU was Rs.1100, Injection Persinal HP-150 IU was Rs.1760, Injection Ovurelix 0.25mg for Rs.1020 and Injection Ovitrelle 250 mcg/0.5ml for Rs.1500 in MHB.

--->   3 Gonal-F injections costing about Rs.24060
          3 Persinal injections costing about Rs.4300 (depending on follicular growth)
          4 Ovurelix injection costing about Rs.4080
          1 Ovitrelle injection costing Rs.1500
         

ECG and ECHO in MHB was for Rs.220 and Rs.1560 resp, in Feb'13. Done just once.

Doppler and Ultrasound Scrotum in MHB was Rs.1000 in Mar'13.Done just once.

Cryopreservation of Sperms costed Rs.6600 for each vial and Embryo Freezing Single Straw for Rs.19800, both valid for one year.

IVF/ICSI- Deluxe costed us Rs.111500 in MHB (excluding injections and progesterone test) and there was nothing DELUXE about it. It too was a half-day care thing.

My Hysteroscopy Report

After taking medication for a month, my DH got CASA done in Dec' 12. Reports showed 2% Slow Progressive Sperms in Nov as well as in Dec; Total Motility increased from 3% to 4% in Dec; Volume was 0.5ml and Sperm Concentration was 1 million/ml for both the months, but the Percentage of Live Sperms reduced from 14% to 2% after taking medication. Off those 2% Live Sperms, Percentage of Normal Sperms was Zero.

My Hysteroscopy was planned for Dec' 12 itself, and Egg Retrieval (ER) was planned for Feb' 13, so we were asked to continue with his medication and see if it has more effect by then.

I got my Pre-Anaesthesia Check (PAC) done by anaesthetist two days prior to my procedure. Since I was diagnosed of Hypertension in June' 12, they thought of getting an ECG done. MHB is very professional and they check your body thoroughly before performing any procedure. As everything seemed normal, my procedure was given a go-ahead.

Hysteroscopy took place in Dec' 12 and everything was normal and healthy. I was asked to take rest for two months and let the body recover from the internal scratches; ER was re-planned for Mar' 13.

But before my ER, Dr. Vasan S.S. wanted to get good sperms from my DH to perform ICSI in March itself. For that, he repeated CASA test and instructed his lab to freeze the sample obtained from ejaculation instead of performing test, in case good sperms were observed. Our bad, no sperms were retrieved :-(

Decided to go with ART at Manipal Hospital

After running from pillar to post, visiting so many doctors within a month's time, we zeroed in on Manipal Hospital Bangalore (MHB) with high hopes. Actually, we heard about MHB on radio while driving on one of the "doctor hopping" days. They had a dedicated ART/ IVF Dept and talked about good success rates; plus they had Dr. Bina Vasan & Dr. Vasan S.S., Urologist-Andrologist as their Team Lead.

We first met with the Uro-Andrologist in Nov' 12 to discuss my DH's Severe Oligospermia and Bilateral Varicocele Grade III and see if his suggestion was any different. He gave us enough time to understand all the reports and our fears, then prescribed two medicines for one month time period, namely Paternia and Wysolone to boost the sperm production. He asked us to do a Semen Analysis (SA) test before starting the medicines and come back with a fresh SA test after taking a month's dose. He also asked us to discuss the way forward with his wife, Dr. Bina Vasan, ART Specialist.

We met Dr. Bina Vasan, asked about the IVF procedures, their costs, etc. We were given in-depth information about all of it by her Assistant, Dr. Manju Nair. As a norm, MHB asks all their new ART patients to do expensive tests of HIV, HCV, HBsAg, VDRL and ELISA for both the partners before going ahead with any treatment. In the next consultation, they wrote down few more tests like Inhibin B and CASA for the male partner and a procedure called Hysteroscopy for the female partner. 

After meeting the doctor couple, our dimming hopes got new flight. We felt that we are in safe hands, and this might be the positivity that we were looking for. Their enthusiasm and involvement gave us confidence.

DH reports of SA in Nov'12, were just the same as conducted in Sep and Oct' 12 in the previous few "doctor hopping" visits (all of them were reputed clinics, so scope of error wasn't much) although done in different lab. 

They planned my hysteroscopy procedure in Dec' 12. Later, many doctors confirmed that conducting a hysteroscopy even before starting with an ART treatment isn't the best thing to do; makes more sense to be done after a few failed IUI/IVF attempts.

More about hysteroscopy and our journey in my next post.