Prof Dr Rashid Latif Khan is the most trusted name among womenfolk in Pakistan. He is a gynaecologist and obstetrician par excellence. Undoubtedly the “father of IVF in Pakistan”, he is a marriage saviour and a beacon of hope for childless couples.

He rose to international fame in 1989 after he delivered the first test-tube baby, not only the first in Pakistan, but also in South Asia. Officially, he achieved the milestone exactly 11 years after the birth of the first test-tube baby of the world. In fact, he had met with success two years earlier in 1987 when one of his patients conceived through In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) but it was a tubal pregnancy and they could not go ahead with that. By the time they learnt about this, the news of conception had made headlines. There also began a controversy among religious scholars who out-rightly termed the process un-Islamic.

The team learnt a lot from that experience and when the patient conceived again through IVF, they kept it a secret till the baby was born. During the period, they managed to visit all those religious scholars who were vocal against the test-tube process. The team, led by Dr Rashid, briefed them on IVF and convinced them that the practice was not un-Islamic. They briefed them in the simplest manner with examples like heart bypass and told them the process was a bypass of the fallopian tubes. They convinced their critics that the practice could be a marriage saver. The sessions with them proved successful and when the first test-tube baby was born, felicitations from all these scholars poured in.

Dr Rashid Latif has recently added another feather to his cap and set a new record in the medical history of the country by notching up the score of 1,000 test-tube babies. He set up the first IVF centre in Pakistan in 1984 and since then he has been working with a missionary zeal.

Talking about how it all began, he says: “I was in Karachi to attend a meeting where at a dinner I overheard someone talking about the world’s first workshop on IVF in Monash University in Melbourne. I got some information and wrote to the organisers of the workshop and expressed my desire to participate in it. They formally invited me and I went to Monash to attend a 15-day workshop. It was a unique experience for me and increased my determination to work in this sector. This led to the establishment of the first IVF centre in Pakistan in April 1984 on Upper Mall in Lahore by the name of Infertility Advisory Centre. It was a team effort and I had Dr Furrukh Zaman, Dr Saqib Siddique and the late Dr Qamar Zaman with me.”

“At that time, some 28 years ago, the technology was not so advanced and the equipment to set up such a centre was not readily available. We had to search for equipment from different parts of the world. We had to look for people going abroad to get certain things for the centre. Our team members also travelled abroad time and again and we somehow managed to collect what was required for an IVF centre.”

“We built it brick by brick. We had to import everything from medicine to pure water to other things. We had to face a lot of difficulties at that time and had to visit different countries to get expertise. Pure water is required for culture purposes and it has to be H2O. We used to import it from the UK. Plus, all the equipment has a shelf life and we had to dispose of unused material after its expiry because for an IVF no compromise is possible; everything has to be perfect. The system cannot run without a backup. All equipment has standbys. We also had to bear additional expenses like customs duty and freight charges. We surmounted all these difficulties and carried on with a missionary zeal. Every team member stood by me through thick and thin and each one of them contributed to the best of his ability. It’s all team work and nobody can do it alone.

“Though we had been able to put together what was required for an IVF centre, we could not get any success in the initial four years. But this did not deter us from moving on. We worked with more vigour after every failure till we achieved success. I can’t explain the feeling I had when I held the first test-tube baby in my hands, and I couldn’t thank God enough for what we had achieved.

“I must tell you one thing here, at that time we were far ahead of India in this technology. We were the first in South Asia to deliver a test-tube baby. We made sure that we acquired the best and latest equipment and techniques. Once a foreign expert visited our centre and he remarked ‘you people have a Rolls Royce of ultra sound machines here’. He also said that this equipment was not even available in Kings College, UK.

“We have tried to provide this facility to people from all income groups and kept in mind that it should be within the reach of the low-income groups as well. We subsidised it through our clinic practice. In the beginning, we used to charge Rs25,000. Now the cost is Rs300,000 and it’s far cheaper than that in the US and UK. We always wanted low-income groups to avail the facility without any financial constraints. We have been providing this facility even to the poor under the zakat package and every tenth case is given this facility.

Interestingly, the success rate for those treated under the zakat package is far higher than others. It’s in the hands of the Almighty. Once enrolled, we treat every patient on an equal basis.

“Now there is a mushroom growth of IVF centres in Pakistan and most of them are doing a good job. I still believe this treatment is cheaper in Pakistan than in other countries. Some centres show very good success rate because they have a cut-off age. They don’t take patients above the age of 36 years. The more you age, the chances of pregnancy get slimmer.

Some centres treat patients above the age of 40 years. The ratio of success in that age group is 1:80. In some countries women over 45 years of age have conceived through IVF. I also believe that there should be a cut-off age and if patients above the required age are admitted, they should be thoroughly briefed about the chances of success they have.”