Couple looking to province for help funding fertility treatment

Debra Kulcsar is working toward a university degree in public administration, but the 35-year-old would rather be working to complete her family.

When we got married, we wanted a dozen kids. Life didn't work out the way we wanted it to and now we have to try to make out the best, Kulcsar said.

Kulcsar was diagnosed as being infertile shortly after she and her husband were married in 2003. She had a tumour on her pituitary gland a gland that regulates the bodys hormones.

The couple has not been able to conceive despite years of trying.

Kulcsar and her husband are candidates for in vitro fertilization a process that involves harvesting eggs from a woman and fertilizing them outside the body before implanting them into the uterus.

The procedure appeals to many couples, but comes at a cost.

Each IVF treatment can range anywhere from $10,000 to $12,000, and many couples require two to three treatments despite the procedures high success rate.

There are many couples who are not able to access treatment because, financially, its not an option for them. There are many, many couples who access treatment and build their families through IVF who end up with significant debt as a result of this, said Dr. Adrian Gamelin, a physician at Aurora Reproductive Care, a fertility clinic in Saskatoon.

Quebec is the only province in Canada that provides public funding for IVF. Ontario recently announced it will pay for some treatments, but the details still need to be worked out.

There are calls for Saskatchewan to follow suit, but the provincial health minister said publicly funding IVF is not high on his list of priorities.

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Couple looking to province for help funding fertility treatment