One in every six couples have an infertility issue, and it will keep growing as women try to get pregnant later in life. The higher the woman’s age, the lower the success rate of having a healthy baby at home. The trend of delaying the time to have a pregnancy is a fact in almost every part of the world.
IVF is more affordable in some regions
Infertility treatments are growing for many reasons. One of the reasons is the increasing prevalence of people needing this type of treatment. A second one is that now IVF is more accessible for everyone because the highest quality can be found at exceptionally low cost. Although patients need to travel to find these great opportunities, it is worthwhile — they could do, if necessary, 3–4 attempts at the same price as only one in some other more expensive countries (i.e. the USA), and with the same high success rates per cycle.
This is true for many medical specialties, but it is especially true for infertility treatments: both IVF with own eggs and donor eggs are more affordable in some countries than in the USA.
Why Argentina? Why is it so chosen by Americans, Canadians, and Australians?
Argentina provides a great combination of safety, top-quality medical treatments, low costs, and the well-known close support and communication of the doctor with patients. The one-to-one format, addressing each individual need and customizing the treatment and trip, makes patients feel as if they were at home.
Why Fertility Argentina / CEGYR?
I am Dr. Demián Glujovsky, the director of the International Patients Department at CEGYR. I started taking care of international patients over a decade ago, receiving contacts through our website Fertility Argentina. Nowadays, we see 250 international patients every year — 70% come from Latin America and 30% from the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
We work to make our patients have the best experience: the process starts when they contact us through email or by phone; then, there are dozens of emails that we exchange in the following 2–3 months, some video call appointments and phone conversations; one trip to Argentina where we help them in every single detail, from transfer to and from the airport and accommodations to any specific requirement. Most importantly, we plan the treatment to have the best chances of success, and I personally participate in every one of our cases. The pregnancy test is taken at home. If positive, the follow-up of the pregnancy is done by the local OB-GYN. If negative, we start thinking about how to make it work the next time. We want to help our patients have a baby, and we will be with each of them until they get it.
Safety
Buenos Aires is the capital city of Argentina — it is a safe and enjoyable place to spend 10 days. We suggest staying at a hotel in Recoleta, Barrio Norte, or Palermo, which are great neighborhoods at no more than 5–10 minutes’ distance from the clinic by taxi or bus. Buenos Aires is a city to enjoy both during the daytime and at night. In the daytime, people can take any public transport (bus, subway, taxi, and bicycles) and walk the city. In the evening, patients call a taxi and visit restaurants and theaters on Corrientes Avenue.
High-quality standards
CEGYR was the first clinic in Argentina to perform an IVF and has the largest egg donor program in the region (since 1984). Our outstanding success rates are based on the great embryo lab that we have. As our embryologists are highly trained, we have a very good blastocyst rate and, therefore, we are able to offer guarantees that make the difference: we allocate at least 6 mature eggs and at least one blastocyst to transfer to every patient. If we don’t get them, we provide a second donor at no additional cost. This way of working is what makes us a different and guaranteed clinic — and it makes our patients confident that when they fly to Argentina they will have a blastocyst to transfer and will go back home with the expectation of a positive result soon.
Empathy
One of the activities I enjoy most is talking with my patients. I like listening to their needs, explaining what the options are, and helping them choose the best alternative to get their objective: to have a baby at home as soon as possible. I am reachable by email, phone, or video call every day because I know that our patients need our support and feel less stressed if they can ask us their questions. Our team is trained to help them at any time.
Low cost
We work on our prices to make our treatments as affordable as possible. As Argentina has lower medical costs than the USA and Europe, we can provide the same quality as the best programs in the USA with better guarantees but at lower prices. Besides, medication is also much cheaper in Argentina than in the USA.
Flexibility
We have many options regarding the time patients need to stay in Argentina. Although egg donor recipients usually stay 10 days and patients doing IVF with own eggs stay 12–15 days, we are flexible to adapt the trip to the patients’ needs. As far as we know what they prefer, we offer them options and decide together how to work in the selected time frame.
No need to think about trip details
Our International Patients Department helps our patients with each of their needs. Our travel assistant organizes everything: waiting for patients at the airport when they arrive, transfer from the airport to the hotel, help choosing the right hotel, and guidance on tourism options. We want our patients to feel happy with the whole experience and, although we know that the medical treatment is the main part of the trip, we want to help with the rest, to make them spend a nice time in our country.
In summary, I like my job and our team is fully committed to making our patients feel a great experience in our country. Although we cannot guarantee success on the first attempt, we will take care of our patients from the first time until they get it. And we will do the best job to make it happen as soon as possible.
