The first semen bank in Calcutta has opened its doors. Semen will be collected from donors and stored in a frozen form in the Bhowanipore bank.

“Medicines used for treating infertility are often ineffective. Donor insemination is a low-cost and more effective procedure. It is far cheaper than test tube babies,” said Baidyanath Chakraborty, the director of the Institute of Reproductive Medicine and the chairman of the guidelines committee for assisted reproductive technology at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

According to doctors, about 20 per cent couples in Calcutta suffer from infertility. Male infertility is behind 40 per cent of the cases.

“For the past six years, cryo-preserved semen was being used to treat infertility in the city. The semen was usually brought from Delhi,” said Rajiv Agarwal, the director of the city-based Care IVF, which has set up CryoBank Calcutta in collaboration with CryoCell India Pvt Ltd.

The semen containers were sometimes damaged during transit. “Also, the recipients here prefer the donor to be from the local population,” added Agarwal.

“In the past, fresh semen was routinely used for therapeutic donor insemination. With an increase in the incidence of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, use of fresh semen is discouraged in developed countries,” said S.K. Hayatnagarkar, the managing director of CryoCell India.

“To ensure that the samples are safe, they are quarantined for at least three months. The donor is again tested for the diseases before the samples are released,” added Hayatnagarkar.

According to ICMR guidelines, 200 samples can be taken from a donor in his lifetime.