Government-funded ECF to be available for Armenian women under 53 who lost sons in Karabakh war

Couples who lost their sons during the war in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) will have the opportunity to undergo extracorporal fertilization (ECF) through government-funded surgeries. This is what President of the Armenian Association for Reproductive Medicine, Head of the Chair of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproduction, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Eduard Hambardzumyan told NEWS.am Medicine.

According to him, there was an opportunity for ECF through government funding in the past as well, but only women under the age of 42 could benefit from the program. The problem was that most of the mothers who lost their sons in the war were overage. Thus, a decision was made to increase the maximum age for participation to 53.

Hambardzumyan said all couples who lost their sons during the war in Artsakh can undergo extracorporal fertilization free-of-charge, regardless of whether they have other children or not. However, when making a decision, specialists will obviously have to take into consideration the particular woman’s health condition and all the possible contraindications.

Hambardzumyan added that the ECF program will be carried out at five reproductive health centers in Yerevan.