By Wendy Anders

Since June, private in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments have been available in Costa Rica thanks to a ruling by the International Human Rights Court ordering Costa Rica to make the health service available.

The country’s public Women’s Hospital in San José has been chosen as the site for publicly insured women to receive IVF treatments, reported Teletica, Costa Rica’s Channel 7 TV, this week.

The national hospital’s IVF program comes with its own budget that is separate from the general hospital operating budget, as well as its own equipment, special set of protocols, and its own specialized staff, which is currently being trained in Mexico, said José Miguel Villalobos, the hospital’s director, to Teletica.

The Women’s Hospital is run by the country’s Social Security Agency (CCSS, in Spanish), and the country’s Medical Professionals Association (Colegio de Médicos) provides technical oversight of IVF treatments in Costa Rica, said Teletica.

The only authorized private IVF treatments in Costa Rica are currently offered by one clinic called El Centro Fecundar.

“Our success rate is 47 percent with transfers of two blastocysts (embryo in its early stage of development) of the patient’s own egg cells, and 65 per cent with blastocysts from an egg donor. Of the pregnancies achieved through our methods, 83 per cent were single pregnancies, and 17 percent were twins (two babies),” according to information on the center’s website.

Centro Fecundar spoke with La Nación, Costa Rica’s main Spanish daily newspaper, in late May when they received the green light from the Public Health Ministry to commence IVF treatments in Costa Rica saying that they charge US$3,500 for an IVF treatment, and that women must be under 42 years to undergo the treatment.

According to the CCSS, one in seven Costa Rican couples require health attention for infertility problems; around 80 per cent of these cases can be treated with other fertility methods.