Covid Qld: Unprecedented demand for IVF as couples cancel travel plans

A shift in Queenslanders’ life goals due to travel bans and lockdowns has resulted in a boom in the reproductive sector.

Couples saving money with the Covid-19 travel ban and the pandemic forcing a shift in life goals are being credited for an unprecedented demand for IVF services.

According to Medicare data, Australians have smashed all records in seeking help at fertility clinics, with Queensland seeing a 25 per cent surge.

Demand is up 27 per cent nationally in 2021 from 2019, with Victoria experiencing a never-before-seen 26 per cent in a year and a whopping 36 per cent since 2019.

Queensland joined NSW with 25 per cent increase in the two years.

Fertility specialists say the pandemic has played a big part in the surge but also easier access to superannuation and expanded services have all boosted IVF treatments.

One fertility group City Fertility is reporting a 56 per cent surge in the demand for services in Queensland in the final quarter of 2021, compared with pre-Covid-19 levels.

City Fertility scientific director and embryologist Adnan Catakovic said: “There has never been this level of demand for fertility services Australia before.

“The latest figures are simply astounding.

“Infertility is an issue that affects many and it can be heartbreaking.

Mandy Pukis with 11-week-old son Nash at home in Greenbank. Picture: Tara Croser

“But these couples don’t have to suffer in silence, medical technology is constantly changing and there are many more options available now than there were just a few years ago.

“It’s so rewarding to be able to help so many couples and individuals wanting to have a baby

and growth their families and to think that there will be so many more families created this

year.”

City Fertility is delivering additional facilities and investing upwards of $15 million nationwide.

“We have just opened a multimillion-dollar clinic, lab and surgery in Brisbane’s Newstead, a

regional Queensland clinic in Toowoomba, and new facilities in Notting Hill in Victoria and

Miranda in Sydney,” Mr Catakovic said.

“There has never been this level of demand for fertility services Australia before.

“The latest figures are simply astounding.”

Mandy Pukis, 44, of Greenbank in Logan, is a single mother to baby Nash.

She went through eight rounds of IVF during the pandemic.

“Nash is my dream baby. It took eight fertility treatments to get him here, and I was very lucky that Covid did not interrupt the process,” she said.

Originally published as Covid Qld: Unprecedented demand for IVF as couples cancel travel plans