DEMAND FOR SURROGATE MOTHERS GROW IN ARMENIA

ARMENPRESS
March 28, 2008

YEREVAN, MARCH 28, ARMENPRESS: Seventy babies have been born in
Armenia since 2003 through artificial insemination. The efficiency
of the method is now 43-44 percent, according to Georgy Okoev, head
of the Mother and Child Health Research Center in Yerevan.

The first artificially inseminated baby was born in Armenia in 2002.

Georgy Okoev told Armenpress the Center buys now medications and other
medical appliances directly from Switzerland without middlemen. As
a result they are more accessible to patients.

According to him, more infertile women of younger age began to apply
to their Center, which also applies effectively the so-called surrogate
mother method.

According to Okoev, there is a growing demand for surrogate mothers
in Armenia, but they have to pay taxes which he said gives rise to a
set of financial problems. He said the Center has asked appropriate
bodies to regulate this issue legislatively.

Three women are getting ready to act now as mothers but before they
become so they are to be examined carefully.