Prospective parents will be able to resume IVF in Victoria after the state government reversed a pause on some procedures.
Acting Health Minister James Merlino has announced some services will restart from Thursday, with hospitals scaling up their operations to enable procedures to resume from 11.59pm on Tuesday.
Mr Merlino received advice from the chief health officer that restrictions on IVF procedures can be removed, given the ‘specialist nature of the workforce and the facilities and equipment used are not imperative to support the pandemic response at this time’.
The health department will work with the Royal Women’s Hospital to prioritise urgent patients, ensuring that the changes do not affect the COVID-19 response in that hospital.
Prospective parents will be able to resume IVF in Victoria after the state government reversed a pause on some procedures
IVF clinics were contacted earlier this month and asked to cancel some appointments as part of a three-month pause on elective surgeries as the state’s hospital system became overwhelmed due to the Omicron outbreak.
But the most time-critical IVF procedures for patients such as couples whose eggs were about to expire and women who took pre-cycle medication before January 6 were still able to go ahead.
The pause was met with widespread criticism, including from prospective parents, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy, with the latter describing it as ‘cruel and heartless’.
An online petition to reinstate fertility and IVF treatments also garnered almost 140,000 signatures.
A major campaigner for the decision to be reversed was Melanie Swieconek and her partner Mauricio Graf who said time was running out for her to ever have children
‘IVF is a challenging journey for anyone to go through, let alone in the midst of a global pandemic, and we’re deeply sorry for the distress caused by affected services in recent weeks,’ Mr Merlino said.
‘We thank Victorians for their patience as we’ve worked through critical workforce issues, and we’ll keep working to have other services restored as soon as we can.’
A major campaigner for the decision to be reversed was Melanie Swieconek and her partner Mauricio Graf who said time was running out for her to ever have children.
Appearing on The Project on Tuesday night, the couple said they wouldn’t be able to access the treatment anymore when she turns 46 in October, giving them just a few months to fulfill a lifelong dream of starting a family.
Ms Swieconek told panellist Carrie Bickmore she was ‘gobsmacked’ after hearing the news IVF procedures would be defined as elective surgeries and paused.
‘I could barely breathe, I started crying, obviously didn’t sleep, there really are no words,’ the hopeful mother told the hosts. ‘It was a punch to the gut’.
She said the government ‘did a sneaky’ by tasking fertility clinics with breaking the news of the three-month ban on treatments to their patients.
Ms Swieconek explained her emotional plea online – which has racked up more than 700,000 views – had been prompted by her overwhelming sense of urgency.
‘I’m 45 and the fertility specialists actually stop treatment at 46, so I turn 46 in October,’ the hopeful mother explained.
‘So to have three months just stolen from me, and that’s how I feel it is, is – I still don’t have any words. I’m still in a bit of a daze to be honest with you.’
In the viral video – addressed to Premier Andrews and Health Minister Martin Foley – she begged the government to overturn the ‘blanket ban’ on treatments.
‘My name is Melanie and I’m currently going through the IVF process and I really want to let you know this is not something I elected to do,’ she says in the video.
‘Not one other person who is going through IVF or has been through IVF or is just about to start IVF has elected to do it.’
Maddison Sullivan-Hunter (right) wife of Western Bulldogs star Lachie Hunter (left) who had a long battle to conceive a child, argued IVF treatment was not a choice
Maddison Sullivan-Hunter, wife of Western Bulldogs star Lachie Hunter, who had a long battle to conceive a child, also argued IVF treatment was not a choice.
‘This is not elective. This is heartache, this is life changing trauma that leaves you irretrievably broken,’ she wrote on Instagram alongside an image of needles and fertility drugs.
‘This is a beast that makes you resent your body, leaves your relationship hanging by a thread, fractures friendships and leaves you feeling achingly alone and filled with a whole new world of loathing every time you feel self pity upon hearing of someone else’s joys.
‘No one wants to do this, this is no one’s first choice – this will forever be a last resort and now you have gone and ripped the last string of hope so many women and couples cling so desperately onto.’
Ms Sullivan-Hunter (pictured) was just one of hundreds devastated to hear the news IVF treatments would be considered elective surgery and paused for three months
