IVF experience with Dr Wiwat (Safe Fertility Clinic) in BKK

modern_mom74

New Member
I wanted to share my experience with Dr Wiwat at SAFE Fertility Clinic in BKK. My TCM in AMK suggested i try him after several failed attempts in Singapore for my second child as she had patients who went there and were successful. My Singapore doctor also suggested that since I was over 40, i would benefit from PGD if i did it overseas.

I personally had 2 friends who had been to him - one failed with a day 2 transfer and one successfully conceived twins via surrogate. From the get-go, i have to say that the whole set-up does not inspire confidence.

This is my experience:
1) They are a purely commercial machine and you are simply a number. This is unlike my IVF doctor in Singapore at Mt E Novena who is sincerely a wonderful doctor and makes a real effort to customize my IVF protocol to what's right for me (I dont want to mention him as a favor to his existing patients as he has infamously long waits already). When i saw Dr Wiwat, I told him that i was only interested to start IVF again if i had a good chance (as i already done 4 cycles in Singapore for second child and last 2 cycles produced no surviving embryos). He sent me for extensive bloodwork in advance, but when i finally met me, he came in for only 10 min max, got a quick rundown from his nurse and he immediately gave me a 50% success rate and passed me off to a junior doctor which he assured me he personally trained. He also said i need 3 tries to really have a good chance and he has a "Package deal - buy 2 get third one really cheap". I would say i was already not that confident at that point but we were already there, so we just bought the meds (since cheaper in BKK) and decided to give it a shot for the next cycle.
2) Nurse point of contact get swapped - During the IVF process on day 5 or 6, my assigned nurse was swapped as well. This is quite unnerving since I am stimming long distance and she is my main point of contact. I just received a whatsapp from her all of a sudden that said XX will be looking after me instead from now on and she never replied me again! The new nurse also offered no explanation of why and as she wasn't familiar with my case, it made things more difficult.
3) It was junior doctors, not him adjusting my protocol - As Dr Wiwat was unfortunately travelling while I was stimming, i had to rely mostly on junior substitute doctors to finetune my protocol and when Dr XX wanted to trigger, i got a call last min from the nurse that Dr Wiwat emailed back from China and wants to hold off for another day and wants me to use a different trigger medicine! So i wasted money buying the first trigger medicine from my Singapore doctor (as i was still here about to fly up for retrieval).
4) During egg retrieval, the nurses took 4 insertion points on both hands to get a vein to start a drip!!! At one point, there were 2 needles in one hand with the nurse and the anesthelogist both trying at the same time! When i protested, they put the gas mask over me. When i woke up after retrieval, I had 4 insertion points and even 1 week after the procedure, i was blue black on my hands. I have pictures to proof. When I showed them to dr Wiwat and his nurse, there was no comments other than "yeah sorry". I have retrieved so many times in Singapore and it has never taken more than one try.
5) Dr Wiwat suggested on day 1 that I freeze my embryos on Day 2 for a day 2 transfer because he said the quality was poor. It was my choice to grow them out to Day 5-6 to see if they are competent enough to make it to blastocysts. My first child was a blastocyst transfer. I was not interested to freeze incompetent embryos on Day 2 for the sake of it and then have to invest more time to go to BKK to transfer what wouldn't likely work. In the end, the blasts didn't make it and nobody can be blamed for that. But all i received on final day was a message that said "No blastcysts, please send me your bank transfer details so we can refund u for the freezing less 3%". No courtesy email or call fr Dr Wiwat or the nurse at all. And there is very limited updates on the embryos during the process unlike in Singapore.

Finally, one last point of note. I have a lot of Thai friends and none of them use Dr Wiwat. He seems to be geared mostly to foreign tourism (a lot of PRCs). My Thai friends prefer to go to a private hospital eg Bumungrad. SAFE is located in an office building. I was slightly concerned what happens in the unlikely event that an emergency occurred. My regret was i didn't give myself time to meet and research other doctors even though my gut feeling wasn't good. I just had to share my real experience which is so counter to what i had read in other blogs.
 
hihi modern_mum74,

thanks for sharing... may I ask a few questions about IVF in BKK...
  1. how much was the cost?
  2. how many days you have to stay there?
  3. your hubby with you?
 
Hi modern_mum74

Read your post. Thanks for sharing such details. I'm over 40 and hoping to try for a 2nd one. I somehow feel that doctors are not so keen to do ivf for ladies over 40. So much so that I am a little shy/embarassed to approach any doc. Would u know if any good docs who is willing to help us over 40s.
Are you doing acupuncture? Can u pm me your tcm? Whats your plans next?
 
hihi modern_mum74,

thanks for sharing... may I ask a few questions about IVF in BKK...
  1. how much was the cost?
  2. how many days you have to stay there?
  3. your hubby with you?
1 The IVF in BKK costs between 8-15K depended upon which dr and clinic u r visiting. The cheaper it is doesn't mean it's not good. It just means the clinic tries to help middle income families who also have difficulty conceiving. The most ex could cater for foreigners or the dr is famous or etc...

2 starting from ur 1st day of period till retrieving the egg plus resting - I think u gotta be in Bkk for about 16-20 days. Then fly back there again when transferring embryo - u should rest there for at least 10 days. The clinic will guide w the time frame on that.

3 hubby doesn't have to be w u...unless the dr needs his sperm fresh. If ur hubby's sperm is healthy, the clinic is able to collect n freeze it for the later use. If not he has to fly in at some point, the dr will tell u the exact date. He needs to be there only 2 days. But u perhaps needs some company at least 2 visits; 1 the date that dr gonna take the egg out. 2 the transferring date itself. U will undergo some operation and u ll be sore and tried...advise to hv a company.
 

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