Egg Donor Programme experience in Malaysia

babybless

New Member
Hi All,

We would like to share our personal experiences of our donor programme at a Fertility Centre in puchong Malaysia. This is a long post and we’ve summarized as succinctly as we could. Please bear with us.

The Fertility Centre has introduced us to their donor agent for the selection of egg donors. He provided us 5 donor profiles but only one donor matched the same blood group as me. This donor cost the highest among the profiles that were shared to us. As I am keen to select a donor sharing the same blood group as me, I called the agent to find out more about the donor. He claimed that the donor has very good egg quality who have donated 1 time before at another well-known IVF centre in KL with 16 blastocysts and 7 Euploids. He told us that the previous IVF centre is calling her back for 2nd donation and his business partner may also want her. He told us that we have to make the decision fast if we want to select her. We felt a little pressured but do not want to miss the chance as we have been searching for a suitable donor for a long time. Based on the donor information the agent has provided us and last donation history which is 10th Jan 2023, we promptly signed the contract with the agent the next day and paid the required agent fee 2 days later on 8th May to book and secure the donor.

We then paid the clinic the required Donor check-up fees for the doctor check-up 2 days later.

Her blood test report shows elevated Haemoglobin F suggesting possibility of blood disorder and Alpha Thalassemia Trait cannot be ruled out. The doctor advised to put the donation on hold and for her to complete the genetic screening test before proceeding. We have paid an additional sum of RM3800+ for her genetic carrier screening test. Due to her coming exams in June, we raised a call to discuss with the doctor and consented to wait for her exams to finish before the agreed donation in her July cycle. We told the agent to reassure the donor not to worry too much about the genetic testing and let her focus on her exams. While waiting for her exams to finish, we passed messages to the agent from time to time asking her how she was doing and to take good care of herself. We have placed a lot of hope and faith on her.

Unfortunately, secretly without our knowledge, the donor went back to the previous IVF centre to do another egg donation on 2nd June 2023 (OPU) before her exams. While she was on the stimulation injections for another recipient, she returned to the Fertility Centre to do the genetic screening blood test on 25th May, running 2 donations at the same time.

In July, the donor’s menstrual cycle came later than usual. Unaware that the donor has already donated at another IVF centre in June, the doctor proceeded with her stimulation for our donor cycle in July.

The result was horrendous. Two different IVF centres using different protocols and medication, one month after the other, left us with 3 embryos and all were mosaic.

Uncovering the truth was devastating to us. We discovered about her 2nd donation in late August and learned that the agent has also lied to us about the donor’s January donation result as well: 8 blasts, he lied to us as 16 blasts. 5 euploids, 2 mosaics he lied as 7 Euploids.

We have reported the incident to the doctor since 1st Sept. We had a meeting with him and the agent but the agent denied knowing anything about the donor’s 2nd donation in June. We request a refund from him but he absconded and blocked us in WhatsApp, not replying to any of our messages or calls. We followed up with the clinic painfully week after week regarding the agent’s whereabouts but the clinic has not provided us with any updates till date.

We were emotionally distressed and felt that we have been deceived by their agent. We seek redress to the doctor but were given defensive answers, disclaiming responsibility that the donor’s poor result is likely cyclical. They replied us in email that “Here at XXX Fertility, potential donors are asked if they have previously donated their gametes, whether at XXX Fertility or at other fertility centres. It is expected of them to be truthful.”

We learned that the donor embryo’s result one month before us had 6 Blasts, 5 PGTA with 4 Euploids of good grades. But during our eggs collection time, the embryologist has commented that the donor’s eggs are “not that normal” in our donor cycle and the outcome is below the norm. It seemed that her body was under stress and her July menses was also delayed much later while her May menses was on time. Her egg quality has been compromised. Another doctor has commented that it is very rare for such an outcome of 3 mosaic embryos from a 23-year-old young donor. Hence, we really don’t believe that our donor cycle outcome is cyclical and not impacted by her donating secretly one month shortly before us.

We exhausted part of our hard-earned savings to purchase the donor oocyte incurring a sum of RM55 000 basing on the fact known to us that her last donation was in Jan 2023 with a clean break of not being subjected to any IVF treatment prior.

We felt that her secret donation one month before our donor cycle has breached the trust and integrity of the donor programme that we have signed up for. Their agent has also fabricated the donor’s past donation results in deceiving us.

This is what we felt may have contributed to the incident and failed donor programme:
  • Engaging us to their Donor Agent who is unethical and has failed responsibility
  • Oversight and lapses in their egg donation process and management
  • Lack of vigilant checks on egg donors to comply with rules and regulation
We have sought for a partial refund of RM20K to partially cover our losses and financial burden.
Till date, we have not received any responses from them and they are not interested in our well-being.

People who can understand our situation, if you could put yourself in our shoes, what would you have done? We hope to seek opinions, advices and counsel as we don’t know who else we can turn to. Please help.


We wished that no one has to go through the financial loss and emotional distress that we are going through.
 

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Hi All,

We would like to share our personal experiences of our donor programme at a Fertility Centre in Kuala Lumpur (KL) Malaysia. This is a long post and we’ve summarized as succinctly as we could. Please bear with us.

The Fertility Centre has introduced us to their donor agent for the selection of egg donors. He provided us 5 donor profiles but only one donor matched the same blood group as me. This donor cost the highest among the profiles that were shared to us. As I am keen to select a donor sharing the same blood group as me, I called the agent to find out more about the donor. He claimed that the donor has very good egg quality who have donated 1 time before at another well-known IVF centre in KL with 16 blastocysts and 7 Euploids. He told us that the previous IVF centre is calling her back for 2nd donation and his business partner may also want her. He told us that we have to make the decision fast if we want to select her. We felt a little pressured but do not want to miss the chance as we have been searching for a suitable donor for a long time. Based on the donor information the agent has provided us and last donation history which is 10th Jan 2023, we promptly signed the contract with the agent the next day and paid the required agent fee 2 days later on 8th May to book and secure the donor.

We then paid the clinic the required Donor check-up fees for the doctor check-up 2 days later.

Her blood test report shows elevated Haemoglobin F suggesting possibility of blood disorder and Alpha Thalassemia Trait cannot be ruled out. The doctor advised to put the donation on hold and for her to complete the genetic screening test before proceeding. We have paid an additional sum of RM3800+ for her genetic carrier screening test. Due to her coming exams in June, we raised a call to discuss with the doctor and consented to wait for her exams to finish before the agreed donation in her July cycle. We told the agent to reassure the donor not to worry too much about the genetic testing and let her focus on her exams. While waiting for her exams to finish, we passed messages to the agent from time to time asking her how she was doing and to take good care of herself. We have placed a lot of hope and faith on her.

Unfortunately, secretly without our knowledge, the donor went back to the previous IVF centre to do another egg donation on 2nd June 2023 (OPU) before her exams. While she was on the stimulation injections for another recipient, she returned to the Fertility Centre to do the genetic screening blood test on 25th May, running 2 donations at the same time.

In July, the donor’s menstrual cycle came later than usual. Unaware that the donor has already donated at another IVF centre in June, the doctor proceeded with her stimulation for our donor cycle in July.

The result was horrendous. Two different IVF centres using different protocols and medication, one month after the other, left us with 3 embryos and all were mosaic.

Uncovering the truth was devastating to us. We discovered about her 2nd donation in late August and learned that the agent has also lied to us about the donor’s January donation result as well: 8 blasts, he lied to us as 16 blasts. 5 euploids, 2 mosaics he lied as 7 Euploids.

We have reported the incident to the doctor since 1st Sept. We had a meeting with him and the agent but the agent denied knowing anything about the donor’s 2nd donation in June. We request a refund from him but he absconded and blocked us in WhatsApp, not replying to any of our messages or calls. We followed up with the clinic painfully week after week regarding the agent’s whereabouts but the clinic has not provided us with any updates till date.

We were emotionally distressed and felt that we have been deceived by their agent. We seek redress to the doctor but were given defensive answers, disclaiming responsibility that the donor’s poor result is likely cyclical. They replied us in email that “Here at XXX Fertility, potential donors are asked if they have previously donated their gametes, whether at XXX Fertility or at other fertility centres. It is expected of them to be truthful.”

We learned that the donor embryo’s result one month before us had 6 Blasts, 5 PGTA with 4 Euploids of good grades. But during our eggs collection time, the embryologist has commented that the donor’s eggs are “not that normal” in our donor cycle and the outcome is below the norm. It seemed that her body was under stress and her July menses was also delayed much later while her May menses was on time. Her egg quality has been compromised. Another doctor has commented that it is very rare for such an outcome of 3 mosaic embryos from a 23-year-old young donor. Hence, we really don’t believe that our donor cycle outcome is cyclical and not impacted by her donating secretly one month shortly before us.

We exhausted part of our hard-earned savings to purchase the donor oocyte incurring a sum of RM55 000 basing on the fact known to us that her last donation was in Jan 2023 with a clean break of not being subjected to any IVF treatment prior.

We felt that her secret donation one month before our donor cycle has breached the trust and integrity of the donor programme that we have signed up for. Their agent has also fabricated the donor’s past donation results in deceiving us.

This is what we felt may have contributed to the incident and failed donor programme:
  • Engaging us to their Donor Agent who is unethical and has failed responsibility
  • Oversight and lapses in their egg donation process and management
  • Lack of vigilant checks on egg donors to comply with rules and regulation
We have sought for a partial refund of RM20K to partially cover our losses and financial burden.
Till date, we have not received any responses from them and they are not interested in our well-being.

People who can understand our situation, if you could put yourself in our shoes, what would you have done? We hope to seek opinions, advices and counsel as we don’t know who else we can turn to. Please help.


We wished that no one has to go through the financial loss and emotional distress that we are going through.
Respectfully, instead of asking the IVF clinic to do the genetic carrier screening that cost RM 3,800, you could have saved some money if you had arranged with the agent to bring the donor directly to the genetic testing company of your choice in KL, Malaysia. There are several such genetic testing companies in Malaysia, and you could have arranged with the agent for the donor to go there directly without the involvement of your IVF clinic, which would likely have charged at least twice the original price of the genetic tests to make a profit.
 
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Instead of asking the IVF clinic to do the genetic carrier screening that cost RM 3,800, you could have saved some money if you had arranged with the agent to bring the donor directly to the genetic testing company of your choice in KL, Malaysia. There are several such genetic testing companies in Malaysia, and you could have arranged with the agent for the donor to go there directly without involvement of the IVF clinic:

Unfortunately, we have been advised that donor agents cannot be fully trusted. There have been real cases that agent alter the historical health report of donor and bring them to IVF clinics. The risks of tasking the agent to bring the donor to do genetic testing outside of IVF clinic:

1. How do we know if the same donor really went to do the genetic testing?
2. Does the genetic report truly belong to the donor or someone else?
3. How do we know if the genetic report results have not been modified?

As the donor is anonymous, there are various areas that we do not have visibility or control on the process.
 
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Hi babybless
I am sorry to hear of your horrible experience. It must have been a distressing period for you both.

I don't have quite any advice. If there are contracts signed and what donor has done breaches one of the terms, perhaps getting lawyer's advice may be helpful. This however has to be weighed against the cost.

Just wondering if you could PM me the name of the donor agent and clinic? I am looking for a donor agent in Malaysia and trying to understand if there are advantages of going through a SG clinic


Thank you
 
Hi babybless
I am sorry to hear of your horrible experience. It must have been a distressing period for you both.

I don't have quite any advice. If there are contracts signed and what donor has done breaches one of the terms, perhaps getting lawyer's advice may be helpful. This however has to be weighed against the cost.

Just wondering if you could PM me the name of the donor agent and clinic? I am looking for a donor agent in Malaysia and trying to understand if there are advantages of going through a SG clinic


Thank you
Dear Val34,
For your information, local IVF clinics such as Thomson Fertility Centre has collaborative ties with Malaysian IVF clinics. They can coordinate with their Malaysian partners to prepare local Singaporean patients to receive donated eggs overseas. For example hormone injection to prepare the patient's womb to be receptive for IVF embryos.
Of course, this will result in higher medical fees, but this is an option that busy patients with little time can consider.
Please refer to an excerpt from this article:
https://ova.galencentre.org/fresh-v...aysian-ivf-patients-dr-alexis-heng-boon-chin/
Alternative Fresh Egg Donation Arrangements For IVF Patients With Busy Work Schedules

For IVF patients with busy work schedules, an alternative arrangement may be to use a nearby local IVF clinic to administer hormone injections to prepare the patient’s womb to be receptive for transfer of IVF embryos, which is the most time-consuming part of the egg donation process for recipient patients.

In this case, only two long-distance trips are required for fresh egg donation. The first trip for sperm collection from the husband, which is used to fertilise the fresh donor eggs to produce IVF embryos that are then frozen down (embryos tend to survive the freezing process much better than unfertilised eggs).

The second trip for transfer of the frozen IVF embryos to the wife. Indeed, a number of Singaporean IVF clinics have collaborative ties with Malaysian IVF clinics in Penang and Kuala Lumpur in carrying out such fresh egg donation arrangements.

Patients must note that budget air travel is much cheaper than using a courier company to transport frozen sperm or IVF embryos to and fro in such arrangements.

Moreover, it must be noted that Singapore currently bans the import of frozen IVF embryos that have been genetically tested with PGS/PGT-A, as this will inevitably reveal the sex of the embryos, which is illegal in Singapore.

Beware Of Unethical And Fraudulent Practices In Fresh Egg Donation

Egg banks exporting frozen eggs to reputable fertility clinics worldwide have a reputation to maintain, as well as need to comply with strict regulations set by many Western countries.

This would mean that established egg banks that have been operating for some years most likely adhere to certain standards of ethical business practices.

The same cannot be said of many small-time egg donor agents and agencies in Malaysia that are completely unregulated.

One unethical and fraudulent practice that prospective recipient patients have to be particularly wary of in fresh egg donation is the switching of donors after patients have made their choices.

It must be noted that egg donation in Malaysia is anonymous, and patients are not allowed to meet donors. Based on anecdotal evidence from blogs, such fraud cases have already occurred in Malaysia, committed by several small-time egg donor agents and agencies.

This is because it is not easy to match the work or study schedule of prospective egg donors with that of recipient patients.

For example, the patient’s selected egg donor may have a sudden and unexpected change in their schedule that leaves them with no time to participate in the lengthy and tedious fresh egg donation cycle requiring numerous medical appointments.

In that case, some unscrupulous small-time agents may find it convenient to just switch to another available donor with the same blood group, without informing the recipient patient.

To prevent such fraudulent practices, it is recommended that the patient check with their clinic on the recorded height, weight and age of the egg donor, when she has her first medical appointment for health checks and blood testing for HIV and other infectious diseases.

Her weight may vary a little, but her height and age should match the donor profile selected by the recipient patient.

Yet another unethical practice that recipient patients have to beware, is that some IVF clinics may take a cut of profit if they are asked to source egg donors from various agents and agencies.

This usually happens if the patient does not pay the agent or agency directly, but instead gives their money to the IVF clinic, who pay the agent or agency and keep a portion to themselves as “administrative fees”.

By contrast, in the case of frozen egg donation, pricing is transparent, and patients directly pay to the egg bank.

In conclusion, different IVF patients have varying budgets, circumstances, and expectations. They have to ponder carefully and weigh the various pros and cons of fresh versus frozen egg donation in deciding which is best suited for them.
 
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Hi babybless
I am sorry to hear of your horrible experience. It must have been a distressing period for you both.

I don't have quite any advice. If there are contracts signed and what donor has done breaches one of the terms, perhaps getting lawyer's advice may be helpful. This however has to be weighed against the cost.

Just wondering if you could PM me the name of the donor agent and clinic? I am looking for a donor agent in Malaysia and trying to understand if there are advantages of going through a SG clinic


Thank you
Alternatively, you may also import frozen donor eggs into Singapore. But you must abide by the following MOH guidelines as follows:

Where donor gametes/embryos are used in any way, all the following additional declarations are required:

(i)
The couple must provide a written declaration that they have paid no more than reasonable expenses for such use. As commercial trading of human gametes/embryos is prohibited in Singapore, the couple will be required to produce evidence (e.g. an itemised invoice) to support their declaration.

(ii) Written declaration by the overseas PGS lab and, where applicable, overseas AR clinic that the collection/retrieval of the gametes/embryos meet AR LTC2020 paragraph 5.292.1. Under the Human Cloning and Other Prohibited Practices Act (HCOPPA), only reasonable expenses may be provided for the supply of gametes and embryos. As per HCOPPA section 13, and MOH’s Licensing Terms and Conditions for Assisted ReproductionServices paragraph 5.31, “reasonable expenses” can include expenses relating to the preparation, preservation and quality control of the gametes/embryos.


Please kindly refer to the attached PDF document.
 

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Hi All,

It’s coming to the end of the year and we just want to provide an update on this ordeal to move on with our life.

After we sent the Fertility Centre on 8th Oct the email of requesting for the partial refund of RM20K out of the RM55K that we have incurred, we waited for a month for their reply and they did not respond to us at all. It was an emotional and mental stress to go through this ordeal.

Subsequently, we sent a follow up email to them on 6th Nov. They did not reply us. We sent another follow up email on 13th Nov and still total silence from them. We then sent another email asking for a response again on 20th Nov.

Their Donor programme coordinator finally replied us on 25th Nov in an email that “we are bound by the rules and policies of the company. These procedures utilize resources, time, and manpower, and we are unable to accommodate your request for the refund of RM20,000.”

We are very disappointed of how the situation has been handled by a big organisation.
It is regrettable that there is no sense of social responsibility, accountability and empathy from them given the terrible lapses under their watch. We are left with nothing after so much time and money has been spent. We waited for so long for a resolution and they finally just came out with an email saying they are unable to refund due to company policies.

Their “procedures utilize time”, what about our biological time that we have wasted that we can never restore?

Do company policies cover the handling of an incident that has happened?
There is no company policy in this world that is cast in stone. What is their sense of humanity?

Before the donor started the stimulation in July, we have to specifically request an appointment for her to first see the doctor, after she was last seen in May. We were surprised that it was not part of their protocol to reassess the donor’s condition before starting the stimulation. But we still place our trust in them to proceed with the donation. Yet, despite our efforts to follow up on the donation process with the agent and clinic, incident at their clinic still happened.

It really saddens us to the core that we have put our faith and hope in Dr N and his team and this is the outcome of the treatment we received.

Before the year comes to an end, we just want to bid goodbye to the Terrible Memories Co. and move on with our life for the coming new year.

We thank everyone who has shown empathy and concern to us and we wish you all a very Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.

May the new year be a good beginning for us all and we wish everyone on this journey to stay well and healthy always!
 
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Dear Val34,
For your information, local IVF clinics such as Thomson Fertility Centre has collaborative ties with Malaysian IVF clinics. They can coordinate with their Malaysian partners to prepare local Singaporean patients to receive donated eggs overseas. For example hormone injection to prepare the patient's womb to be receptive for IVF embryos.
Of course, this will result in higher medical fees, but this is an option that busy patients with little time can consider.
Please refer to an excerpt from this article:
https://ova.galencentre.org/fresh-v...aysian-ivf-patients-dr-alexis-heng-boon-chin/
Alternative Fresh Egg Donation Arrangements For IVF Patients With Busy Work Schedules

For IVF patients with busy work schedules, an alternative arrangement may be to use a nearby local IVF clinic to administer hormone injections to prepare the patient’s womb to be receptive for transfer of IVF embryos, which is the most time-consuming part of the egg donation process for recipient patients.

In this case, only two long-distance trips are required for fresh egg donation. The first trip for sperm collection from the husband, which is used to fertilise the fresh donor eggs to produce IVF embryos that are then frozen down (embryos tend to survive the freezing process much better than unfertilised eggs).

The second trip for transfer of the frozen IVF embryos to the wife. Indeed, a number of Singaporean IVF clinics have collaborative ties with Malaysian IVF clinics in Penang and Kuala Lumpur in carrying out such fresh egg donation arrangements.

Patients must note that budget air travel is much cheaper than using a courier company to transport frozen sperm or IVF embryos to and fro in such arrangements.

Moreover, it must be noted that Singapore currently bans the import of frozen IVF embryos that have been genetically tested with PGS/PGT-A, as this will inevitably reveal the sex of the embryos, which is illegal in Singapore.

Beware Of Unethical And Fraudulent Practices In Fresh Egg Donation

Egg banks exporting frozen eggs to reputable fertility clinics worldwide have a reputation to maintain, as well as need to comply with strict regulations set by many Western countries.

This would mean that established egg banks that have been operating for some years most likely adhere to certain standards of ethical business practices.

The same cannot be said of many small-time egg donor agents and agencies in Malaysia that are completely unregulated.

One unethical and fraudulent practice that prospective recipient patients have to be particularly wary of in fresh egg donation is the switching of donors after patients have made their choices.

It must be noted that egg donation in Malaysia is anonymous, and patients are not allowed to meet donors. Based on anecdotal evidence from blogs, such fraud cases have already occurred in Malaysia, committed by several small-time egg donor agents and agencies.

This is because it is not easy to match the work or study schedule of prospective egg donors with that of recipient patients.

For example, the patient’s selected egg donor may have a sudden and unexpected change in their schedule that leaves them with no time to participate in the lengthy and tedious fresh egg donation cycle requiring numerous medical appointments.

In that case, some unscrupulous small-time agents may find it convenient to just switch to another available donor with the same blood group, without informing the recipient patient.

To prevent such fraudulent practices, it is recommended that the patient check with their clinic on the recorded height, weight and age of the egg donor, when she has her first medical appointment for health checks and blood testing for HIV and other infectious diseases.

Her weight may vary a little, but her height and age should match the donor profile selected by the recipient patient.

Yet another unethical practice that recipient patients have to beware, is that some IVF clinics may take a cut of profit if they are asked to source egg donors from various agents and agencies.

This usually happens if the patient does not pay the agent or agency directly, but instead gives their money to the IVF clinic, who pay the agent or agency and keep a portion to themselves as “administrative fees”.

By contrast, in the case of frozen egg donation, pricing is transparent, and patients directly pay to the egg bank.

In conclusion, different IVF patients have varying budgets, circumstances, and expectations. They have to ponder carefully and weigh the various pros and cons of fresh versus frozen egg donation in deciding which is best suited for them.
If you have been through the pain that we have gone through at their Malaysia IVF Clinic, you wouldn't have post this.
 
Alternatively, you may also import frozen donor eggs into Singapore. But you must abide by the following MOH guidelines as follows:

Where donor gametes/embryos are used in any way, all the following additional declarations are required:

(i)
The couple must provide a written declaration that they have paid no more than reasonable expenses for such use. As commercial trading of human gametes/embryos is prohibited in Singapore, the couple will be required to produce evidence (e.g. an itemised invoice) to support their declaration.

(ii) Written declaration by the overseas PGS lab and, where applicable, overseas AR clinic that the collection/retrieval of the gametes/embryos meet AR LTC2020 paragraph 5.292.1. Under the Human Cloning and Other Prohibited Practices Act (HCOPPA), only reasonable expenses may be provided for the supply of gametes and embryos. As per HCOPPA section 13, and MOH’s Licensing Terms and Conditions for Assisted ReproductionServices paragraph 5.31, “reasonable expenses” can include expenses relating to the preparation, preservation and quality control of the gametes/embryos.


Please kindly refer to the attached PDF document.
Please stop spamming the thread, nothing better to do is it
 

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