BRITISH couples desperate for a child are becoming “fertility tourists” to take advantage of the low prices and high success rates of eastern European IVF clinics.

Treatment in countries such as Slovenia and Hungary generally costs half as much as in Britain, yet is often more likely to result in a pregnancy. This has made it attractive to British patients, three quarters of whom pay for therapy.

While there are no official figures for the numbers travelling abroad for treatment, they are believed to run into hundreds every year. At least two British clinics organise treatment in Spain, Greece and Romania, and doctors predict that more people are likely to follow this route following the enlargement of the EU.

Experts, however, said that it could be a false economy. Patients would save little once flights and accommodation were paid for and they would not receive the counselling and follow-up care available at home.

Karl Nygren, of Sofiahemmet Hospital in Stockholm, said: “The general care of a patient is just as important as the treatment, and this can be disrupted if you go abroad. It is too simple just to count the money. It’s a personal choice, but I’d think twice.”

Suzi Leather, chairwoman of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, said it was difficult for fertility tourists to be confident of the standard of care they would receive.

“I can understand why people would want to go abroad,” she said. “But where treatment is not regulated there is no way that patients can be sure of the safety or the results advertised by clinics.

“In the UK all patients are offered counselling and they also have the reassurance of knowing that they can talk to their own doctor at any time.”

Slovenia and Hungary are the most attractive likely destinations for fertility tourists as both countries have higher IVF success rates than Britain and significantly lower prices. A cycle of treatment in either country costs about £1,600, compared with up to £4,000 in Britain.

The latest European survey of IVF, compiled by Professor Karl Nygren and Dr Anders Nyboe Andersen of Copenhagen University Hospital, places Slovenia third with a success rate of 36.2 per cent and Hungary ninth on 31.9 per cent.

Britain comes 14th, with a success rate of 28.4 per cent, the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology conference in Berlin was told.

Most existing fertility tourism takes place because of the shortage of donated eggs in Britain, which means many women who have no viable eggs of their own choose to travel to countries such as Spain and Greece where donors can be paid. Two London centres — the Bridge Clinic and the Bupa Roding Hospital — already organise such trips.

Dr Andersen said this was likely to increase when new British laws stripping egg and sperm donors of the right to anonymity become active next year.

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