Friday 6 March 2015

A WORLD RECORD BY INDIAN SURROGATE MOTHERS THEIR FAMILIES TEAM INSTAR AND SUPPORTERS OF SURROGACY

New Delhi: India’s first surrogacy walk that took place on April 20, 2014 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here has got its place in the 2015 Limca Book of Records (Special Literature Edition). The event reportedly witnessed the participation of 384 people, including surrogate mothers, their husbands and family members, doctors, lawyers, social workers and ART (Assisted Reproductive Technology) experts.
The surrogacy walk was jointly organised by Dr Himanshu Bavishi, president, INSTAR (Indian Society for Third Party Assisted Reproduction) and Dr Shivani Sachdev Gour, IVF (in vitro fertilisation) expert, gynaecologist and director of SCI (Surrogacy Centre India) Healthcare, New Delhi.
“The theme of the walk was ‘Surrogacy Builds Families’. It was meant to bring awareness in the society that surrogacy is good as it builds family. Volunteers choose to become surrogate mothers out of their own will and they are not at all forced to do it. They know what they do and they do it with good intentions,” Dr Bavishi told India Medical Times.
He said, “There was one more thought behind the walk. We found out that there are a lot of negative stories being circulated around the surrogacy in media or social media in India. Hence, we tried to bring its positive side out in public and organised the programmes where surrogate mothers came in public and made themselves heard.”
“Surrogacy helps two families, the infertile couples’ family and the surrogate mother’s family. It was the first time when people went out in public and showed its importance,” Dr Gaur told IMT.
INSTAR is now planning to organise second surrogacy walk in some other state of India. “We organised the first programme in Delhi for it’s the national capital. This time, we will be doing in some other place because awareness has to be in every part of the country. We have not finalised the place yet,” said Dr Bavishi.
by Priyanka V Gupta
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