Hello,
I am going to start posting my experience with Iakentro Clinic, Athens, Greece just in case others are looking to conceive via egg donation in Greece.
Note that we are also working with Ruth Pellow through ivftreatmentabroad. She is a British fertility nurse who has started her own business coordinating fertility treatment between a few Spanish and Greek clinics and international patients. To date, she has been extremely helpful and wonderfully kind and knoweldgeable.
COST OF EGG DONATION IVF AT Iakentro, Athens:
It is important to note that the costs below do not include an assessment of your particular fertility issues. I am assuming that if you are at the point where you have decided to attempt conceiving via egg donation, then you already have completed your testing and fertility assessment, so these costs are not included below. Once we received the go ahead from our health care provider that we were really good candidates for egg donation, these were the costs associated with the ED ivf cycle.
A FRESH donor egg ivf at Iakentro, Greece costs 5000 euros. This includes EVERYTHING related to the ED ivf cyle, except two things:
(1) the cost of the medications that are required for YOURSELF to prepare your endometrium for the egg transfer (in Canada, this is about 300euros- check your insurance provider to see if they will cover your meds), and
(2) the cost of satellite monitoring at your local fertility clinic to monitor your endometrium in the few weeks prior to egg transfer in Greece (cost at our local Canadian clinic is approximately 700 euros total).
The 5000 euros paid to the clinic includes all of the following:
- the donor's fee, the donor's medications, the donor's screening and donor's medical fees,
- the egg retrieval
- the sperm collection and sperm washing
- ICSI if it is needed
- assisted hatching
- transfer of 5 day blastocists
- all of the recipients medical needs at the Greek clinic
- vitrification (freezing) and storage of embryos/blasticists fo 5 years.
There is no additional "agency fee" for the donor.The cost for the services of Ruth Pellow (if you decide to use her) are included the 5000 euros. No extra cost to you!ALSO NOTE: You get to keep all the eggs retrieved. This is not an egg-sharing program.
TRAVEL - cost and length of stay
The cost obviously depends on where you live. The travel costs can be greatly reduced if you have your treatment in the Spring, Fall or Winter because summer travel/stay in Greece is more expensive. So choose a smart travel time.
You will need to stay in Greece for approximately 7 to 10 days. Iakentro schedules your treatment with the egg donor in such a way that you can actually plan ahead for your travel and take advantage of reduced fares. It is smart to buy a ticket that you can change travel dates without too much penalty. Same thing for hotel reservations - choose something you can cancel without a fee.
If the treatment fails, and you have frozen eggs left over, the intended mother can return to Greece for a FET. The cost of the thaw and transfer of the eggs at Iakentro is approx 1000 euros, but the stay in Greece would be much shorter (only a few days).
WHO ARE THE DONORS
Egg donation in Greece is completely anonymous, so you will never get to see a picture of the donor. You will be provided with details such as:
age
nationality
eye colour
hair colour
complexion
height
weight
blood type
nationality
donors will be requested on your behalf who are UNDER 30 and PROVEN = have donated before and the cycle was successful.
If it is important to you, you may also request a donor with a certain education level, and they will accommodate.
Typically, the donors who work with Iakentro are recruited through word of mouth. They are often Greek, Romanian, Russian, or Georgian students.
You provide the clinic with a picture of yourself, one of your partner, and any kids you may have had together already, and they work hard to find a match that looks like you and will fit into your family.
There are no waiting lists for donors. The clinic plans it's fresh ED cycles 6-8 weeks ahead of time. Once your file is completed and you are ready to move ahead, it takes about 2-4 weeks to match you with potential donors.
In our case, we got into contact on May 13th, indicated that we would like to try a cycle in late July, and we were provided the details of two potential donors on June 14, 2013. Both donors match my characteristcis EXTREMELY closely. One is Greek (27 years old) and the other is Romanian (25). Both are proven donors and both attended university. We chose the Romanian donor.
Our fresh ED ivf cycle will occur in July 2013, with egg collection set for July 30-31st.
PREPARATION OF INTENDED MOTHER'S ENDOMETRIUM
I was started on birth control pills on June 11th (Day 1 of my cycle), so that my cycle can be tightly controlled and my uterus calmed as we approach the July ivf cycle.
Now that we have chosen our donor and have dates set, we will be provided (and our local fertility clinic) with our formal treatment plan. This will lay out all the timing of the meds, u/s and blood work required in the weeks prior to egg transfer, when we need to be in Greece, etc.
PAYMENT FOR TREATMENT
Since we are coming from abroad, we will be wire transferring the 5000 euros to Iakentro's a finance company about 2 weeks prior to treatment, to ensure that the transation is completed by the time we arrive in Greece on July 28th. We were a little bit nervous at first about transferring such a large amount of $ to Europe, but we have spoken with two other patients of Ruth's (one of this website, and one based in New Zealand), and they experienced no problems with the transfer of funds. So no need to worry - it's safe!
Well, that's how things are going for us so far with the Iakentro, Athens Clinic
I hope this helps, and will update as we go along. Feel free to ask anything!
Best to everyone!