KS Health Insurance Fund refunds costs for two procedures of medically assisted reproduction

The Management Board of the Sarajevo Canton Health Insurance Fund made a decision at the beginning of this week to refund the costs for medically assisted reproduction procedures, amounting to KM 4,000 for the first attempt and KM 2,000 for the second attempt, reports the BH News Agency Patria.

As the director of the KS Health Insurance Fund, Samir Turković, told the Patria agency, patients can undergo the procedure at any facility, but all necessary diagnostic and other health services in the process of treatment and proving infertility must be performed by insured persons at the University Clinical Center Sarajevo or other contracted health institutions in the Sarajevo Canton, at the expense of mandatory health insurance funds.

- If the necessary diagnostic and other health services in the process of treatment and proving infertility are performed at another health institution, the Fund will not participate in the costs if they could have been performed at the University Clinical Center Sarajevo or other health institutions, health centers in the Sarajevo Canton – says Turković.

Patients must meet certain conditions to receive a positive konzilijarno opinion and be included in the medically assisted reproduction program:

- Women being treated for infertility, women who have not given birth, women up to the age of 37, established diagnoses, conditions, and all necessary medical tests.

There are three private health institutions in the Sarajevo Canton that perform medically assisted reproduction procedures. One of them is the Bahceci BiH IVF Center for Gynecology, Infertility, and In Vitro Fertilization. The Executive Director of Bahceci BiH, Irfan Lazović, stated in an interview with the Patria news agency that this decision is good news.

The Bahceci center in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been providing medically assisted reproduction services for five years and has so far helped over 450 healthy babies to be born. However, they emphasize that it will now be significantly easier for future parents facing infertility problems to undergo the procedure.

- All couples residing in the Sarajevo Canton who started the assisted reproduction procedure after September 26, 2016, at our center are entitled to a refund of costs by the KS Health Insurance Fund – said Irfan Lazović, Executive Director of the Bahceci Center for Gynecology, Infertility, and In Vitro Fertilization.

- In vitro fertilization is sometimes the only way for couples suffering from infertility to have children, but unfortunately, many couples have not been able to bear the costs associated with the in vitro fertilization procedure until now – concludes Lazović, expressing gratitude to the Ministry of Health of KS and the KS Health Insurance Fund on behalf of all couples facing infertility problems who can now exercise their right to a refund of costs.

Infertility affects both men and women equally, specifically: 40% women, 40% men, and in 15-20% of cases, it is a joint or unexplained problem. According to estimates by the World Health Organization, Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the six countries in the world with the lowest fertility rate, which is 1.2 children per woman. In vitro fertilization is sometimes the only way for couples suffering from infertility to have children, but unfortunately, many couples are unable to bear the costs associated with the in vitro fertilization procedure. It is estimated that there are about 400 couples in KS who require medically assisted reproduction procedures.

Infertility, the inability to achieve pregnancy after one year of regular sexual intercourse, is a major health problem for the population. More than 17 percent of couples, or one in six couples in our country, are faced with an infertility diagnosis. Medically assisted reproduction encompasses a range of methods used in the treatment of infertility of one or both partners. They treat 70 to 80% of all causes of infertility, but are only applied when all other treatment methods have failed.

Conditions to be met for cost refund