How Has COVID Pandemic Affected Family Planning?

COVID Pandemic has created tremendous havoc worldwide, especially on the health care system and family planning. The additional pressure of this pandemic management has made other routine medical services like fertility treatment highly burdensome and hence, has escalated the concerns for those who want to grow their family.

Measures taken to prevent the spread of pandemic like lockdown, constraint zones, limited public transportation, etc. have reduced the access to health care institutions in both, public and private sectors. There is not only significant reduction in clientele but also, manpower in private sectors. 

The fear of contracting the infection has enveloped everyone. The ambiguity over the same and lack of substantial treatment has left people second guessing their visits to hospital. Therefore, the number of patients coming to the hospital and the treatment cycles have drastically reduced. But then the question arises, that for how long will this state of ambiguity last, and till when will family planning and fertility treatments be delayed? 

Most of the people are still working from home, many are even jobless; pregnancy planning might be most people’s last concern. Even if they want to plan the pregnancy, there is so much fear and anxiety involved. Pregnancy at the time of COVID doesn’t only consumes one to think about pregnancy risks alone, but also a plethora of questions like whether this is a safe time to plan, is it worth visiting the hospital, what if one gets infected during pregnancy, the impact it will have on the mother, the safety of the baby conceived, how safe will the baby be with the COVID infection, the safety of COVID vaccine during pregnancy, etc.  

Though none of the global professional societies have recommended not to conceive during this time, the studies are going on to answer these questions. The limited data of the effect of COVID infection on 1st trimester pregnancy is reassuring.

From time to time, various fertility societies have proposed many recommendations to be established in the working of fertility services. Many safety measures like social distancing, using PPE kit, online consultation, tele medicines, sanitizing the equipment and hospital premises frequently have been designed by the health care institutions to deliver the essential services considering the safety of both health care providers and patients.  

Debate exists globally regarding whether fertility treatment be considered as an essential service. Three major reproductive medicine societies (American, European and IFFS) have issued a joint statement that reproduction is an essential human right, so reproductive professionals should provide them the required services with all the precautions and safety measures.

Through the current scenario, all of us have come to terms with the new reality of adjusting our daily activities around the threat of the virus. The Indian council of medical research (ICMR) too has formulated the guidelines for ART services during COVID-19. Certain meticulous steps are being taken to promote safe practices to minimize the risks to our patients and hospital staff.

Dr Ila Gupta

Guest Author The author is Senior IVF Consultant and Clinical Director at Ferticity Fertility Clinics, Delhi