Mohamed Taranissi is a truly accomplished babymaker. Examples of his biological handiwork — photographs of smiling infants thrust into the camera by thrilled parents — cover the walls of his smart IVF clinic in Central London, a mere buggy’s push from Regent’s Park.

His clinic habitually tops the IVF league tables in Britain; the most recent figures from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), for 2004, showed that the chances of a live birth there were 53.8 per cent per cycle for women under 35 using their own fresh (not frozen) eggs. He is, according to The Sunday Times Rich List, the wealthiest doctor in Britain; his clinic turns an annual profit of £3 million.

But Taranissi’s empire of happiness, which has produced more than 2,000 bundles of joy, is tinged with despair. Despair at the paperwork demanded by the HFEA so that clinics can remain licensed. Despair at what he sees as a movable political agenda driving the authority’s decisions (such as its lifting, after tabloid protests, of the restriction on the creation of “saviour siblings”, whose tissue can provide a life-saving match for sick, older siblings). And despair at the public pronouncements made by the HFEA which, in his eyes, intentionally cast IVF practitioners as deranged doctors bent on pushing new technology at any cost and/or overpopulating the planet. He says he can now see “no point” in the authority’s existence and that its policies often make little sense to him.

When it was announced on Friday that the regulatory body had approved a scheme whereby women undergoing IVF will be able to cut thousands of pounds from their treatment by donating some of their eggs for cloning research, he said that it was a typical case of the HFEA putting their heads in the sand.

“The process of egg sharing for reduced payments is already widely used in the UK; I see no difference between that and giving eggs for research. I think people give the HFEA more authority than they have. If I had a patient who wanted to donate eggs for research, I would not ask HFEA’s permission.” But nor would he subsidise their fees, and though reluctant to say that it is irresponsible to do so (“it can help people”), he says it misses the point.

“I personally believe that to offer such a service has large psychological repurcussions. If a woman’s treatment fails, she will always be wondering whether the other batch might have worked.

“In the US, fertile women are allowed to donate eggs in return for cash, which avoids this issue — as well as ensuring healthy eggs. The HFEA says that this is unethical which is, frankly, puzzling. In the UK, women are still exchanging money, but in a different way, and it leads to many more problems.” Taranissi’s ongoing battles with the HFEA have led him to contemplate giving up, he says.

When it was revealed in June that Taranissi had the best IVF success rates in Britain, it was also reported that his clinic had produced the highest number of multiple births. Dame Suzi Leather, who steps down as HFEA chair tomorrow, gave a warning that clinics producing twins and triplets should be approached “with caution”.

Taranissi, 51, was incensed at the idea that he was shoehorning two or three embryos into patients’ wombs. Dame Suzi stands by her comments. “The final decision about how many embryos to transfer to the womb should be left to the clinician,” he says. “I understand that there are risks (associated with multiple pregnancies), but those risks are not universal.”

Instead of slighting him, he says, the HFEA should be investigating — and even shutting down — the clinics with the worst IVF results. He points to numerous IVF scandals, such as embryos being implanted in the wrong mother: “Where was the HFEA then? I don’t see the point of it (the authority), to be really honest.”

The HFEA responds: “The fact that mistakes are reported, scrutinised and addressed is a sign of the success of the regulatory system and the need for its ongoing work . . . Regulation of routine fertility services is also the single most important thing that patients think the HFEA should be doing.”

Taranissi was born in Egypt into a wealthy Muslim family. He originally specialised in surgery for gynaecological cancers but the buzz from pulling off showy operations soon waned. He decided to return to obstetrics, which he had always enjoyed. “It’s a human instinct to have a family,” says Taranissi, who has four children by two marriages. “I’ve been brought into this world for a reason, and if it’s to help people, I’m very happy.” He admits he still gets very emotional when he talks to patients, and talks of “the purity, the joy of these tiny little creatures”.

His self-imposed regime is punishing to the point of obsessive: he leaves his Mayfair flat at 6.45am and stays at his clinic until 8pm or 9pm. He says he has not had a day off since August 2002. Perversely for someone so involved in creating happy families, he rarely sees his two youngest children — a seven-year-old son and five-year-old daughter by his second marriage. “I feel guilty, and my family know this. Perhaps I will regret it later on. I took my son out to lunch, alone, for the first time last year. I came out of the restaurant, and realised I’d had a good time. Until then, I didn’t know it was something I was missing.”