BẮC NINH — The first baby conceived via in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) in this northern province was born on Monday at the Bắc Ninh Pediatrics and Obstetrics Hospital, hospital director Lê Văn Nam said.

The baby, who was born after 39 weeks, weighs 3.2kg.

The girl is the first child of Nguyễn Đình Long and Hoàng Thị Huyền. Huyền became pregnant through intrauterine insemination (IUI) -- a fertility treatment that involves injecting sperm inside a woman’s uterus to facilitate fertilisation.

This is one of the complicated techniques that a few provincial can perform.

The birth of this child raises hopes for thousands of other married couples who are unable to conceive.

The hospital began operations last July.

As of May this year, the hospital has conducted IUI treatments on 30 couples, and six of them have become pregnant.

The success of the first IVF case in the province is a milestone for the hospital’s doctors and nurses, Nam, who is also deputy head of the provincial Health Department, said.

According to the Ministry of Health, the infertility rate in Việt Nam is 7.7 per cent. Some 35-50 per cent of assisted reproduction cases are successful.

The first three IVF cases in the country resulted in three babies being born on April 30, 1998.

There are 20 IVF operation centres in Việt Nam that can conduct IVF treatments on 15,000 couples per year. — VNS