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SACRED BOND | November 08, 2009 |
Radha Sharma | TNN
The world will soon read about ‘A Sacred Thread’ that binds an elite American woman with a poor, unlettered housewife in Vijapur, Gujarat. At the centre of this bond is gynaecologist Dr Nayna Patel whose work has put milktown Anand on the global map as the surrogacy capital of the world!
In July 2008, Adrienne Arieff, a 38-year-old American author came desperately looking for Dr Patel after three miscarriages. She wanted Dr Patel to find a surrogate mother. In March 2009, Adrienne became a proud mother of twin girls — India and Emma.
Adrienne did not forget Femida, the 26-year-old surrogate who helped her realize her dream of becoming a mother, and is now writing a book on her bond with Femida and Dr Patel. She recently visited Femida and was pleased to see that she has bought a rickshaw for her husband and plans to build a house with the money Adrienne paid her for surrogacy. Her book will be published by Random Publications.
“The book will be a tribute to the surrogate of twin children and Dr Patel who has helped many childless mothers like me with her work in treating infertility through surrogacy,” says Adrienne.
Till date, Dr Patel has helped 144 couples from not just India but 19 countries, including the US, UK, Australia, Canada and Africa, become parents with the help of her treatment through surrogates. This at one-tenth the cost of average Rs 50-60 lakh that is charged abroad.
Thanks to Dr Patel, renting the womb has almost become a cottage industry in this small town which is now the most frequently searched place on Google Earth by childless couples who are looking for that woman who will lend her womb to them for nine months and deliver them their bundle of joy.
Currently, there are at least 25 surrogates in different stages of pregnancy, carrying children of strangers from all over the world, housed in the Keval Hospital and a special ‘Surrogate House’ run by Dr Patel. Their minds pregnant with hope of a better future with the Rs 2.5-3.5 lakh remuneration that will secure a roof over their head, a job for their husband and money to finance their children’s education.
“I have bought a house and some land of our own which my husband tills,” says Shanta, who has opted to become a surrogate mother for the second time.
Ganga, 26, a Nepalese woman, carrying the child of an Australian couple, says she would buy a house in Nepal and ensure education for her daughter from the money she will get as a surrogate. “Earlier, I worked as a maid in Kuwait for an Indian couple who abused me and did not pay me a year’s salary. I am happy to work as a surrogate,” said Ganga.
Dr Patel, who carries the credit of globalisation of reproduction with ease and was also featured on the Oprah Winfrey show for her work, says that desperate couples flock to Anand for surrogate motherhood because their approach is more humane and definitely not business-like.
“Childless couples abroad are charged $70,000 by agencies offering surrogate mothers of which the women get a miniscule per cent. Here, we try to get the maximum benefit to the women as well the childless couple,” says Dr Patel. He says she herself ensures that women invest the money earned in buying a house, business or fixed for future use.
Though she accepts that offering surrogacy openly when she started IVF treatment in 1998 was not easy. “People would allege that we exploit poor women but I remained transparent and many women have been able to overcome extreme poverty through our work. Of course, there is more legal work and managing inter-personal relations but in the end, it is worth it. The bonds that are formed here are forever,” says Dr Patel.
Like the pictures of the twin girls that Adrienne sends to Femida on Dr Patel’s e-mail address, Femida also comes regularly to reply to Adrienne at the clinic. All pulled by a sacred thread!
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| Adrienne with her husband and her twin daughters |
PUTTING A SMILE ON THEIR FACES: Dr Nayna Patel (left) at her clinic in Anand |
