Hyderabad: Having given fertility specialists, academicians, and visiting delegates a participatory platform for exchanging recent trends and advancements in fertility and assisted reproduction, the 18th annual conference of the Indian Fertility Society drew to a close on Sunday.
Telangana Governor Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan ceremonially lit the camp to inaugurate the conference on December 9 at Novotel HICC.
The 3-day conference saw over 2000 delegates, researchers, and fertility specialists including many international participants, present more than 100 research papers and partake in live operative workshops on laparoscopy, cryopreservation, and other procedures. The experts also presented E-Posters, delivered oral presentations, and deliberated on the best practices in fertility medicine, counseling techniques for couples seeking infertility treatment, the latest innovations in IVF treatment, and the future of Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART). Over the duration of the workshop, sessions on handling male infertility and chances of pregnancy in aging women, and the impact of endometriosis were also discussed.
Speaking during the inaugural programme, the Governor urged participants to “Innovate new things and create awareness to fight infertility.” She stressed that “continuous medical education and conferences like these particularly with the theme ‘Innovations in Practice’ will help you innovate new things and sharpen the knowledge of fertility.”
The governor also noted that “it is not easy to practice as a fertility specialist.” She pointed out that in India and some developing countries there is a social stigma around couples who cannot conceive. “There are 25 million men and women in India who suffer from infertility issues. We must highlight the reasons that are causing infertility and create awareness on how it can be prevented”, she added.
She suggested that fertility procedures must be included in the insurance to help those couples who cannot afford the cost of fertility treatment, and government policies should be framed around such medical treatments. She said as a gynecologist herself, she understood the difficulties faced by gynecologists and fertility specialists due to the demanding nature of the job.
In her welcome address, Organizing Chairperson and IFS Telangana State Secretary Dr. Roya Rozati who was instrumental in bringing the coveted event to Telangana said, “Hyderabad is hosting this year’s event by virtue of the city’s historic legacy, cultural diversity, and the rapidly advancing developments in the field of research, Information Technology, and medicine.”
Earlier, the Governor released the 3-volume set of the IFS Manual of Assisted Reproductive Technologies and Laboratory Sciences and the IFS journal and presented Lifetime Achievement Awards to Dr. Arne Sunde of Norway, Dr. Pankaj Talwar (India) and Dr. Raj Mathur (UK). Fertivision 2022 Souvenir was also released on the occasion.
Dr K D Nayar, IFS President and Organizing Chair of Fertivision 2022, Dr. Surveen Ghumman, IFS Secretary General and Organizing Secretary of Fertivision 2022, Dr. Pankaj Talwar, IFS President-Elect and Chair of Scientific Committee Fertivision 2022, Former FOGSI President Dr. Shantha Kumari and others were also present on this occasion.
