Couple gets grandchildren via surrogacy

Two years after the death of their son, a couple here in Maharashtra has been blessed with twin grandchildren via surrogacy using their son's cryo-preserved semen.

A Pune based woman's son Prathamesh Patil died of cancer two years ago in Germany.

She became the grandmother of the twins after doctors at Pune's Sahyadri Hospital performed the In-vitro fertilisation (IVF) procedure and fused Patil's semen, which was extracted and preserved long before his death, with the eggs of a donor to form embryos.

The embryos were then transferred into the womb of a surrogate mother who gave birth to the twins -- a boy and a girl -- on Monday.

After her son's death, the mother contacted the semen bank in Germany and brought it to India after completing the formalities.

She then approached the hospital for an IVF procedure with the help of her son's semen.

IVF, Gynaecology and Obstetrics Department Head Supriya Puranik said she was happy that advancement in science and technology was bringing a smile on people's face.