NAGPUR: Closing down of borders due to Covid pandemic came as a blessing in disguise for a Pakistani couple. Childless for nearly 20 years since marriage, the couple from Ghotki city of Sindh province in Pakistan gave birth to a test tube baby conceived at a Nagpur hospital.
With a Pakistani passport issued in the name of the child, now three months old, the three are ready to return home in Ghotki. Their return plans coincide with Pakistani authorities easing the Covid protocol for cross-border travel.
Vijay (name changed) is a Pakistani Hindu, who had come on a visit visa to meet his relatives in Nagpur in 2019. Soon, the borders closed due to Covid.
As the relatives insisted, the couple got an in vitro fertilization (IVF) done. IVF is the medical term for test tube baby.
“Yes, there are IVF centres in Pakistan also. We could have got it done in a city like Karachi or so. But we kept delaying the plan and ultimately 19 years passed. I had come to India in March 2019. In the meantime, my relatives insisted that I can get IVF done here and also referred a hospital. Finally, I took a call and went ahead,” said Vijay.
The family then obtained a long-term visa (LTV) as the visit visa only allowed a month’s stay. The first IVF attempt failed and the couple went for another round and finally succeeded.
“My wife gave birth to a baby boy on May 16 this year. He is healthy and with all the check-ups done, we plan to go back to Ghotki. My father has developed some heart problem and he has asked me to come back. On reaching there, we can decide whether to stay or come back,” he said. “The baby has given a new meaning for our life,” he says.
Dr Mayuri Assudani of Indira IVF at Nagpur, who treated the couple, said, “After the first attempt failed, I took it as a personal challenge. It worked the second time.”
“They earlier had plans to return to Pakistan when the wife was five months pregnant. However, given her condition, I preferred that they stayed so that direct monitoring could be done. The travel could have had its own hazards. They agreed and finally the child was delivered here,” she says.
The story has brought out another aspect of lives of those travelling to India from Pakistan.
Rajesh Jhambia, secretary of Sindh Hindi Panchayat, says, “There are many who come from Sindh for this purpose. The child is born in India and some of them return, but others also continue staying in India. There are 2-3 similar cases in Nagpur.”
