An Australian health tourism company is offering a new package for couples seeking a sex-selective IVF.

An Australian health tourism company is offering a new package for couples seeking a sex-selective IVF. Sex selective treatment is banned in Australia, but couples can now holiday in Thailand whilst having the procedure done.

For A$12,000 Global Health travel is offering 11 days in a luxury Bangkok hotel while couples undergo IVF treatment to choose a baby boy or girl. Cells are taken from the three-day-old embryo for gender screening, and a boy or girl is implanted before the pregnant woman flies home a few days later.

”Some people bring their whole family and make a holiday of it,” Global Health Travel managing director Cassandra Italia said yesterday. ”It isn’t something just the wealthy are doing, and we get 10 to 20 inquiries a month.”

There have been calls for the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) to revise prohibitions on the use of IVF for sex-selection. A NHMRC spokesperson said that the guidelines won’t be reconsidered until 2015. For now, Australian couples will have travel to countries like Thailand, the US or Cyprus where the procedure is legal. Now thanks to advances in travel medicine they can now make a holiday of it. 

Xavier Symons
Creative commons
IVF
medical tourism
Thailand