On 6 August, 1986 Mumbai's first test tube baby, Harsha Chawda, was born. Now 29, Chawda has given birth to a healthy baby boy on Monday morning. Her husband Divyapal Shah is excited to be a father. He said, "I am very happy and can't wait to take Harsha and the baby to our home."
The delivery was carried out at Jaslok Hospital in Mumbai by gynaecologist Dr. Indira Hinduja (who had lead the team during Chawda's birth in 1986) and Dr. Kusum Zaveri.
AT A GLANCE
A history of IVF babies
Louise Joy Brown, the world’s first successful test-tube baby, was born in UK on July 25, 1978
India’s first test-tube baby Kanupriya Agarwal (Durga) was born in Kolkata on Oct 3, 1978.
However her doctor, Dr Subhash Mukhopadhyay later committed suicide in 1981. It is reported that the then government failed to recognise his achievement, it, instead insulted him and he suffered social ostracisation.
Harsha Chawda was considered a medical marvel when the team headed by Dr. Indira Hinduja of KEM hospital in Mumbai brought her into this world.
While speaking to dna in 2011 on her 25th birthday, Chawda had said, “There is nothing unusual about me. I am like anybody else. But I will always feel I am special,”.
The commerce graduate from Mumbai had then lost her job after being hospitalised for an illness. She has single handedly managed the household after her father had passed away in 2003.
Her mother, Mani Chawda, is thankful for that. She had told dna in an earlier interview that having Harsha was the happiest moment of her life. She had also expressed her concern that even though the IVF procedure has become very successful, not a single insurance company has shown interest in covering IVF.
Harsha's life took a turn for the better in 2012 when she not only found a new job but also met her now Husband, Divyapal.
Today a proud mother, Harsha hopes she can provide all the happiness and love that her parents gave her.
What is IVF?
IVF is an abbreviation of in vitro fertilisation. IFV babies are often termed test tube babies in non-medical language because IVF translates to "fertilisation inside glass" while technically it does not happen inside a test tube.
In IVF the egg is fertilized outside the body by a sperm to develop an embryo which is then planted in the uterus of the mother. This could then turn into a pregnancy.
