Not long ago, the Beijing Municipal Medical Insurance Bureau announced that starting in March 2022, 16 assisted reproductive technology projects will be included in the reimbursement scope of public medical institutions in Beijing. Moreover, this provision is expected to be rolled out throughout the country.
As soon as the news came out, netizens immediately launched a fierce discussion.
Someone clapped their hands and applauded: now more people can complete their wishes through help.
Some people also said: This is to persuade marriage and persuasion not to move, so let the "no" fight again?
No matter what you say, in the matter of fighting for the baby, the state has worked hard enough to give enough support.
Of course, whether to be born or not is a personal choice, and we respect it; what about those who want to live or not? What's up?
Policy issues aside, in order to "be born if you want to be born", human beings have been working hard and have never given up!
Image source: Network
01
Superstition and progress
In the hundreds of thousands of years of human fertility history, conception and embryos have been unsolved mysteries.
For example, the various "fertility cults" of many primitive tribes; inability to procreate is seen as a curse or punishment from heaven.
Even the famous figures in history, when it comes to fertility, have begun to "run the train with their mouths full of mouths":
The philosopher Aristotle said: Cold water can promote the formation of female fetuses, and the north wind is conducive to promoting male fetal formation;
Anatomist Herofilas believes that women also have testicles in their bodies (it was a long, long time before people realized that they were actually ovaries);
Hippocrates, the "father of medicine" in the West and the famous Greek doctor, believed that inserting garlic cloves into a woman's private parts could test her fertility...
What really gives us a scientific understanding of fertility is the last hundred years:
It wasn't until the nineteenth century that people cracked the secret of female ovulation;
It was not until the twentieth century that the way humans reproduce changed radically...
Nowadays, if a couple is infertile, we all know that the situation can be simply and rudely divided into three types:
1. There is a problem with the man
2. There is a problem with the woman
3. Both men and women have problems
Suppose two people know what is wrong with them through a series of checks, but still want their own children, what can be done?
Yes! And there are a lot of them
In addition to conventional drug treatment and surgical treatment, there is another type of method, that is, the project that began to be included in the reimbursement scope of beijing public medical institutions in March: assisted reproductive technology.
02
What is "assisted reproduction"?
Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) is both a therapeutic and a medical process.
We can help couples with natural fertility difficulties to conceive through assisted reproductive technology.
In addition, it can also reduce the risk of congenital genetic diseases or chromosomal abnormalities in newborns.
This method is more suitable for couples who have tried various pregnancy methods but still cannot successfully conceive.
At present, the mainstream assisted reproductive technology (ART) has three categories: "artificial insemination", gamete transfer and IVF (strictly speaking: in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer).
The main classification of assisted reproductive technologies
In addition, there are some derivative technologies, such as in vitro maturation of eggs, embryo freezing, egg freezing, etc., to help people realize their dreams of pregnancy.
Friends will be curious when they see this:
There are so many assisted reproductive technologies, which technology makes the mother have the highest probability of successfully conceiving?
The answer is as follows: IVF (strictly speaking: IN VIF and embryo transfer)!
Pregnancy rates of infertility by diagnosis and treatment method
03
"IVF" from 0 to 1
In the nineteenth century, people cracked the secret of female ovulation.
In 1963, British physiologist Robert Edwards began experimenting with human in vitro fertilization.
Six years later, one day in 1969, a miracle happened.
Sperm and egg combine successfully on the outside of the body!
Since then, gestation has become more and more like a "medical event.".
"IVF" has become one of the important milestones in the history of human fertility.
On 25 July 1978, a baby girl weighing about 2.6 kilograms, louise Brown, the world's first IVF, was born by caesarean section outside Manchester, England.
IVF infant experiments were successful. The birth of the world's first IVF marks a major breakthrough in the field of human embryology research, an important step to solve the problem of human infertility, and let many families see hope!
According to the International Commission on Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technology, since 1978, more than 8 million IVF babies have been born worldwide!
04
"IVF" is a baby in an IVF?
The term "IVF" is very popular and easy to understand.
Many doctors have encountered the question: How long does the baby have to stay in the IV tube before we can carry it home? -------------------------------------------------
In fact, the ivy tube is not cultivated in the baby, but the embryo, which solves the problem of "sperm and egg success together". After 5-6 days of successful culture, the embryos are transferred back to the mother's uterus to continue to grow, develop and be born.
It is a comprehensive technique that combines embryology, endocrinology, genetics, and micromanipulation.
Starting from ovulation induction, egg retrieval, sperm retrieval, sperm and egg combination to form an embryo, embryo transfer to embryo implantation is a cycle.
Schematic diagram of IVF technical process (source network, invasion and deletion)
So you see, the term "IVF" is an accommodation and compromise with conventional things, and it is not accurate.
05
Our country's "IVF"
Allowing "people who can't have children" to successfully have children is a worldwide problem, and our Chinese doctors are also working hard.
On March 10, 1988, the Third Hospital of Beijing Medical University welcomed Zheng Mengzhu, the first case of IVF in mainland China;
31 years later, also in the operating room of the Third Hospital of Beijing Medical College, Zheng Mengzhu successfully gave birth to a baby boy.
Zheng Mengzhu's healthy delivery confirmed the safety of assisted reproductive technology, indicating that assisted reproductive technology in the mainland has ranked among the world's first-class levels.
According to a 2012 survey by the Chinese Oral Association, there are more than 40 million infertility patients in China, accounting for 12.5% of the population of childbearing age. The Fertility Center/Infertility Department is almost one of the busiest departments in Chinese hospitals.
For elderly mothers and infertile couples, assisted reproductive technology is a new option. At present, one of the most mainstream methods of assisted reproduction technology is IVF. By the end of 2020, the number of assisted reproductive technologies used on the mainland was 1.303 million, of which 952,000 were IVF, accounting for 73% of the total.
Many people may see this probability of being foolish, IVF success rate is so high technology so mature, is it expensive?
According to the data provided by assisted reproductive medical institutions, it can be seen that because of the individual differences of each person, the treatment that needs to be carried out in the process of fertility is different, and the cost is also different.
But in general, it goes like this:
The cost of preoperative examination for both husband and wife is 6000-7000 yuan.
Ovulation induction drugs and B ultrasound monitoring cost about 5000-13000 yuan. It depends on whether the ovulation induction is smooth and how good the egg quality is.
The cost of test tube surgery and laboratory operation: about 12,000-18,000 yuan.
Others, such as embryo freezing, fetal protection drugs, etc., also need several thousand yuan. In this way, it costs at least about thirty thousand to do an IVF. Again, this is in the case of a success.
Therefore, Beijing's policy of incorporating assisted reproductive technology into medical insurance means that the cost of having children will be greatly reduced for people with difficulties in conceiving, such as elderly children and infertility patients. Next, more provinces and cities will join the ranks of assisted reproduction into the medical insurance directory, so that more people who want children can realize their wishes.
Finally, end today's popular science with a blessing: May the country be safe and the people be safe, and fertility be free.