First frozen embryo baby born in Bangladesh

The couple had all the sun yesterday when they heard the cry of their newborn Apsora, the first ever success in frozen embryo implantation in Bangladesh.“She is doing great, she is in good health, she has no physical defect, nor does she need any special care,” Rashida Begum, the doctor behind the groundbreaking success in Bangladesh, told The Daily Star.Now in a ward of Anwar Khan Modern Hospital in Dhanmondi, the baby girl, weighing 3.2 kg at birth, will soon go home, doctors expect.“It can't be described how happy the couple is. They had been waiting for a baby for long five years. It is really thrilling to see such a success,” said Rashida, an assistant professor of the gynaecology and obstetrics department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.The landmark success came 24 years after the first frozen embryo baby was born in Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. The technology is similar to 'in vitro fertilisation', a process by which egg cells are fertilised by sperm outside the woman's womb in an artificial environment. The process involves hormonally controlling the ovulation process, removing ova (eggs) from the woman's ovaries and letting sperm fertilise them in a fluid medium. The fertilised egg (zygote) is then transferred to the patient's uterus for a successful pregnancy.

Read full context of The Daily Star story by Shamim Ashraf