Seeking Egg Donor
- Thread starter SadSadZ
- Start date
Here is a copy of a previous thread in this forum regarding freelance egg donors:
"At a local private fertility clinic that I consulted, a nurse hinted to me that I can secretly use a Malaysian, Thai or International egg donor agency to discreetly send an egg donor to Singapore. But payment must be kept secret. The donor and us must sign a form declaring that the donor is unpaid and donating her eggs altruistically to us.
The nurse also hinted to me that the doctor and fertility counselor may suspect or secretly know that we are using a foreign agency and paying the egg donor, but they will be willing to 'close one eye' and look the other way. After all , we will have to sign a declaration form stating that the donor is unpaid.
Additionally, the nurse also warned me against using individual freelance egg donors who offer their services online, as there is no money-back guarantee. For example, freelance egg donors may renege on their agreement after receiving some payment, and it would be difficult for me to sue her to return my money, as the payment was illegal in the first place and that I would only implicate myself in an illegal transaction if I were to commence legal proceedings. Moreover, it is rather difficult to monitor and ensure freelance egg donors regularly follow the painful and tedious procedure of hormone injections required for ovarian stimulation.
She also pointed out the advantages of using a foreign egg donor agency instead of an individual freelance donor. For example, most egg donor agencies will get a coordinator to accompany the donor on her travel to Singapore, who will ensure that she injects herself punctiliously with fertility hormones during the ovarian stimulation cycle. Many agencies will also give you a new replacement donor free-of-charge, if no eggs are retrieved, or if the donor gets sick and backs out half-way. Furthermore, the agency coordinator will also coach the egg donor to say the right things to the fertility counselor, since it is compulsory for the donor to receive counseling before the egg donation procedure.
In hindsight, I realized that all these must actually be the doctor's idea, and that he was using his nurse to relay such information to me, so as not to breach the medical professional code of conduct and ethics. All legal liability will be on us, since we have signed the form declaring that the egg donation is unpaid and altruistic. The clinic and IVF lab will be free of any legal responsibility for the secret payment, once the appropriate declaration forms have been signed by us and the donor."
"At a local private fertility clinic that I consulted, a nurse hinted to me that I can secretly use a Malaysian, Thai or International egg donor agency to discreetly send an egg donor to Singapore. But payment must be kept secret. The donor and us must sign a form declaring that the donor is unpaid and donating her eggs altruistically to us.
The nurse also hinted to me that the doctor and fertility counselor may suspect or secretly know that we are using a foreign agency and paying the egg donor, but they will be willing to 'close one eye' and look the other way. After all , we will have to sign a declaration form stating that the donor is unpaid.
Additionally, the nurse also warned me against using individual freelance egg donors who offer their services online, as there is no money-back guarantee. For example, freelance egg donors may renege on their agreement after receiving some payment, and it would be difficult for me to sue her to return my money, as the payment was illegal in the first place and that I would only implicate myself in an illegal transaction if I were to commence legal proceedings. Moreover, it is rather difficult to monitor and ensure freelance egg donors regularly follow the painful and tedious procedure of hormone injections required for ovarian stimulation.
She also pointed out the advantages of using a foreign egg donor agency instead of an individual freelance donor. For example, most egg donor agencies will get a coordinator to accompany the donor on her travel to Singapore, who will ensure that she injects herself punctiliously with fertility hormones during the ovarian stimulation cycle. Many agencies will also give you a new replacement donor free-of-charge, if no eggs are retrieved, or if the donor gets sick and backs out half-way. Furthermore, the agency coordinator will also coach the egg donor to say the right things to the fertility counselor, since it is compulsory for the donor to receive counseling before the egg donation procedure.
In hindsight, I realized that all these must actually be the doctor's idea, and that he was using his nurse to relay such information to me, so as not to breach the medical professional code of conduct and ethics. All legal liability will be on us, since we have signed the form declaring that the egg donation is unpaid and altruistic. The clinic and IVF lab will be free of any legal responsibility for the secret payment, once the appropriate declaration forms have been signed by us and the donor."
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Here is an extract from an article in Quora:
5 egg donation options for Singaporeans :
Option 1: Seek out your own relatives or close friends as egg donors
Option 2: Import frozen donor eggs from an overseas egg bank
Option 3: Look for an egg donor through the internet who is paid secretly, or utilize a foreign agency to send an egg donor to Singapore (strictly not recommended)
Option 4: Travel overseas for egg donation at a foreign fertility clinic
Option 5: Utilize leftover frozen eggs from a local fertility clinic
5 egg donation options for Singaporeans :
Option 1: Seek out your own relatives or close friends as egg donors
- Advantages
- An obvious advantage of using a blood relative such as a sibling or cousin as an egg donor, is that you have a genetic link to the conceived child. Additionally, you would also be familiar with any hereditary genetic diseases that run in the family. Here are the various fractions of DNA that you would share with your child, with different types of blood relatives as egg donor: full sister - 25%(1/4), half-sister or niece - 12.5%(1/8), first cousin - 6.25%(1/16), second cousin - 3.125%(1/32). Note that if you were using your own eggs, you would share 50%(1/2) of DNA with your child.
- The advantage of using a close friend is that you know her character and what she looks like, traits that may possibly be inherited by the conceived child.
- Disadvantages
- It may be challenging to find a “young enough” donor among your own circle of friends and relatives, preferably below 30 years old, as recommended by most fertility clinics. Using older egg donors will obviously decrease your chances of success.
- Egg donation from close relatives may possibly cause awkwardness and tension in future family relationships, particularly at family gatherings during major festivals such as Chinese New Year.
- There is a lack of egg donor anonymity, and increased chances of the secret of the child’s conception being leaked out, either deliberately or inadvertently by a third party.
Option 2: Import frozen donor eggs from an overseas egg bank
- Advantages
- Donor anonymity is maintained.
- There is a wide choice of donors available in foreign egg banks based in Western countries, even Asian and Chinese ones. Increasing demand worldwide has led to egg banks in Western countries recruiting donors of such ethnicity.
- Disadvantages
- Besides the high costs of the frozen eggs, the transportation cost from a foreign country to Singapore is also very expensive, as it requires a special cryogenic container.
- A special custom permit is required to avoid the imported samples being subjected to x-ray, which could be highly damaging to the frozen eggs. Extensive paperwork may be required which could further add to the already high costs.
- Despite technological advances such as vitrification, the success rate with frozen eggs is still significantly lower than fresh eggs.
- Asian/Chinese donors eggs may be more expensive to procure from egg banks based in Western countries, as compared to Caucasian ones, due to the scarcity of Asian/Chinese donors in Western countries
Option 3: Look for an egg donor through the internet who is paid secretly, or utilize a foreign agency to send an egg donor to Singapore (strictly not recommended)
- Advantages
- Freelance egg donors that you find from internet websites may be much cheaper than using a foreign egg donor agency..
- On the other hand, utilizing a well-established foreign egg donor agency may be a ‘safer’ option. Most reputable foreign agencies will insist on having a coordinator to accompany the donor to Singapore, to ensure that the donor punctiliously self-administers hormonal injections to stimulate her ovaries, as well as to make sure she fulfills her part of the contract.
- Disadvantages
- Secret under-the-table payments to either freelance egg donors or foreign egg donor agencies are illegal under Singapore law.
- After paying freelance egg donors, there is no guarantee that they will fulfill their part of the bargain, in which case you have no legal recourse for recovering your money. Because payment for egg donation is illegal in Singapore, you will only implicate yourself in an illegal transaction if you decide to sue the would-be freelance egg donor.
- It maybe difficult to ensure that the freelance egg donor faithfully follows the painful and tedious procedure of daily hormone injections to stimulate egg production within her ovaries.
- Utilizing a foreign egg donor agency to send an egg donor to Singapore will be much more expensive. Besides the agency fees, there are also extra traveling and accommodation costs.
- It may be difficult for illicit payment to either a freelance egg donor or foreign egg donor agency to leak out. But if it does leak out, you will definitely end up in big trouble. Several years ago, a Singaporean tycoon was jailed and fined for paying an Indonesian man to donate his kidney.
- Additionally, it must be noted that local Singaporean IVF clinics would require both the recipient couple and egg donor to sign a declaration form stating that the donation is altruistic. Hence the crime of perjury would be committed by signing a false declaration.
Option 4: Travel overseas for egg donation at a foreign fertility clinic
- Advantages
- The medical fees of foreign fertility clinics are often much cheaper compared to Singapore.
- Foreign egg donors are permitted to receive generous financial compensation abroad. As a result, there is a wide choice of egg donors of different ethnicity, physical characteristics and educational attainment available.
- Some local clinics have collaborative ties with foreign clinics that carry out egg donation. Hence, they would be able to advise you on egg donation overseas, as well as co-ordinate with foreign clinics in synchronizing hormonal injections to prepare your womb to be receptive for the egg donation procedure overseas.
- Preimplantation Genetic Screening (PGS) of embryos, which is highly restricted in Singapore, is readily available overseas. This might be an important consideration for patients receiving donated eggs, since it is unknown whether the anonymous egg donor is carrying any genetic defects.
- The use of PGS for embryo sex selection may be permitted in foreign countries.
- Disadvantages
- There is no government co-funding and you cannot utilize your Central Provident Fund (CPF) for fertility treatment abroad.
- There is also the hassle and costs of overseas travel and hotel stay, which may be minimized if you choose a fertility clinic in nearby Johor Bahru.
- Knowing that patients are fearful of unknown genetic defects carried by the anonymous egg donor, foreign fertility clinics often strongly advocate patients to do expensive PGS, instead of recommending cheaper alternatives such as genetic testing of the egg donor’s blood sample, and Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT). This is not in the patient’s best interest, and is likely an attempt by foreign fertility clinics to make extra money off Singaporean patients.
Option 5: Utilize leftover frozen eggs from a local fertility clinic
- Advantages
- Spare leftover frozen eggs are donated altruistically by other IVF patients who have successfully conceived a child, as a gesture of goodwill and desire to help others.
- Disadvantages
- These are generally very scarce, but can be obtained from three sources: (i) Single women facing premature menopause or undergoing medical treatment that will damage their fertility such as chemotherapy are allowed to freeze their eggs. (ii) A few married couples undergoing IVF choose to freeze their excess unfertilized eggs instead of embryos for religious or personal reasons, as they view frozen embryos as ‘living entities’ that should not be culled through disposal. (iii) Contingency egg freezing is sometimes performed when the husband is unable to produce a usable sperm sample on the day of egg extraction surgery, for example ejaculation failure due to stress.
- As expected, patients would use their best quality eggs for their own treatment, so the few frozen leftovers would be of questionable quality.
- Upon receiving altruistic donation of leftover spare frozen eggs by other patients, be wary of being overcharged high medical fees by the fertility clinic, which could in fact "mask" the sale of the altruistically-donated eggs to you.
- Take note that fertility doctors persuading former patients to altruistically donate leftover frozen eggs to you face a conflict of interest, because they will be earning additional medical fees by performing the egg donation procedure on you. Moreover, such fertility doctors may manipulate and abuse the doctor-patient fiduciary relationship during the donation consent process, by exploiting their former patient's gratitude to them for successful fertility treatment.
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Here are three tips for Singaporean patients considering egg donation in Malaysia:
(1) Do not do highly-expensive genetic screening of IVF embryos (PGS / PGT-A). Instead, insist on doing genetic testing of the egg donor's blood sample, which is much cheaper than PGS. Moreover, you can also use NIPT (Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing) to screen for genetic defects in your unborn child after conception, which is also much cheaper than PGS.
A blood sample contains thousands of white blood cells, from which an abundant amount of DNA genetic material can be extracted. By contrast, only a few cells and tiny amount of DNA are extracted from the embryo during PGS (biopsy procedure). This makes it technically simpler and much cheaper to do genetic screening of the Egg Donor's blood sample, as compared to genetic screening of embryos with PGS / PGT-A.
(2) Use egg donors that reside locally within the same city as the IVF clinic. Avoid using traveling egg donors from out-of-town or out-of-state, who reside far away from the IVF clinic. It is much more difficult to control and monitor the ovarian stimulation cycle of traveling egg donors from out-of-town. If possible, insist that the egg donor regularly receives hormone injections (recorded) by a nurse at the IVF clinic itself.
Singaporean patients must beware that most egg donors in Johor come from out-of-town or out-of-state. This is because the overwhelming majority of egg donor agencies and agents in Malaysia are based in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, and IVF clinics in Johor rely on such agencies and agents to source egg donors for their patients.
It is common practice for doctors to hand over expensive hormone medications (requiring refrigeration) directly to out-of-town donors, and expect the donor to self-inject, maybe with some supervision from the agent.
Such out-of-town egg donors may commute to the clinic for medical appointments, receive the hormone medications and then return to their hometowns where they are expected to self-inject for several days. They will then commute again to Johor for further appointments to scan their follicles, or for the final egg-retrieval surgery.
Anyone who had undergone IVF can appreciate the painful and tedious procedure of self-injections. Without any direct supervision from the IVF clinic, the egg donor or agent may not be bothered to strictly comply with such a painful and tedious routine of self-injections. If they are extra careless, the expensive hormone medications may not be stored in the refrigerator, leading to spoilage and reduced potency. Without strict adherence to the injection protocol, the number and quality of eggs obtained from the donor will be severely compromised.
(3) When doing IVF with frozen (vitrified) donor eggs, use the same fertility clinic or IVF lab that recruited the egg donor and freeze her eggs. Avoid using frozen donor eggs that are transferred from an egg bank. If possible, use the IVF lab that is affiliated with that egg bank. For best results, the thawing protocol must be matching and compatible with the freezing (vitrification) protocol, and only the same IVF lab that performs both the freezing and thawing processes, can ensure this. Also beware that IVF success rates with frozen donor eggs are significantly lower than with fresh donor eggs.
(1) Do not do highly-expensive genetic screening of IVF embryos (PGS / PGT-A). Instead, insist on doing genetic testing of the egg donor's blood sample, which is much cheaper than PGS. Moreover, you can also use NIPT (Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing) to screen for genetic defects in your unborn child after conception, which is also much cheaper than PGS.
A blood sample contains thousands of white blood cells, from which an abundant amount of DNA genetic material can be extracted. By contrast, only a few cells and tiny amount of DNA are extracted from the embryo during PGS (biopsy procedure). This makes it technically simpler and much cheaper to do genetic screening of the Egg Donor's blood sample, as compared to genetic screening of embryos with PGS / PGT-A.
(2) Use egg donors that reside locally within the same city as the IVF clinic. Avoid using traveling egg donors from out-of-town or out-of-state, who reside far away from the IVF clinic. It is much more difficult to control and monitor the ovarian stimulation cycle of traveling egg donors from out-of-town. If possible, insist that the egg donor regularly receives hormone injections (recorded) by a nurse at the IVF clinic itself.
Singaporean patients must beware that most egg donors in Johor come from out-of-town or out-of-state. This is because the overwhelming majority of egg donor agencies and agents in Malaysia are based in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, and IVF clinics in Johor rely on such agencies and agents to source egg donors for their patients.
It is common practice for doctors to hand over expensive hormone medications (requiring refrigeration) directly to out-of-town donors, and expect the donor to self-inject, maybe with some supervision from the agent.
Such out-of-town egg donors may commute to the clinic for medical appointments, receive the hormone medications and then return to their hometowns where they are expected to self-inject for several days. They will then commute again to Johor for further appointments to scan their follicles, or for the final egg-retrieval surgery.
Anyone who had undergone IVF can appreciate the painful and tedious procedure of self-injections. Without any direct supervision from the IVF clinic, the egg donor or agent may not be bothered to strictly comply with such a painful and tedious routine of self-injections. If they are extra careless, the expensive hormone medications may not be stored in the refrigerator, leading to spoilage and reduced potency. Without strict adherence to the injection protocol, the number and quality of eggs obtained from the donor will be severely compromised.
(3) When doing IVF with frozen (vitrified) donor eggs, use the same fertility clinic or IVF lab that recruited the egg donor and freeze her eggs. Avoid using frozen donor eggs that are transferred from an egg bank. If possible, use the IVF lab that is affiliated with that egg bank. For best results, the thawing protocol must be matching and compatible with the freezing (vitrification) protocol, and only the same IVF lab that performs both the freezing and thawing processes, can ensure this. Also beware that IVF success rates with frozen donor eggs are significantly lower than with fresh donor eggs.
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Also take note of another thread in this forum, regarding importing frozen donor eggs into Singapore. It is not cheap to import Chinese / Asian donor eggs from Ovogenebank (formerly known as "First Egg Bank") in Europe:
6 frozen donor eggs - 9500 euro
8 frozen donor eggs - 12600 euro
12 frozen donor eggs - 19000 euro
Transport - 3100 euro
By comparison, the price of Caucasian donor eggs from the same egg bank are as follows:
6 frozen donor eggs - 3400 euro
8 frozen donor eggs - 4500 euro
12 frozen donor eggs - 6500 euro
Transport - 3100 euro
This egg bank is run by Cathie Sanchez, a former nurse and yoga teacher from Australia, and goes under the name of:
www. fertilitymy .com or www. eggbankasia .com
Phone number: +60-12-579-2006
WeChat ID: EggBankAsia
In fact, upon inquiring at the Malaysian Egg Bank, they told me that it would not be possible for them to directly export frozen donor eggs to Singapore, as there is no MOH approval. So I need to go through Ovogenebank (formerly known as "First Egg Bank").
This Malaysian egg bank is closely-affiliated with the Island Fertility Centre in Penang. An added advantage is that they also provide fresh donor eggs to patients of Island Fertility Centre.
You may consider going there after this pandemic is over.
6 frozen donor eggs - 9500 euro
8 frozen donor eggs - 12600 euro
12 frozen donor eggs - 19000 euro
Transport - 3100 euro
By comparison, the price of Caucasian donor eggs from the same egg bank are as follows:
6 frozen donor eggs - 3400 euro
8 frozen donor eggs - 4500 euro
12 frozen donor eggs - 6500 euro
Transport - 3100 euro
This Egg Bank based in Europe in fact sourced their Chinese and Asian donors from another egg bank in Penang, Malaysia. (Some of the catalog photos and donor profiles are very similar, if not identical). The irony is that this particular egg bank in Malaysia has not been officially approved by MOH for import.
This egg bank is run by Cathie Sanchez, a former nurse and yoga teacher from Australia, and goes under the name of:
www. fertilitymy .com or www. eggbankasia .com
Phone number: +60-12-579-2006
WeChat ID: EggBankAsia
In fact, upon inquiring at the Malaysian Egg Bank, they told me that it would not be possible for them to directly export frozen donor eggs to Singapore, as there is no MOH approval. So I need to go through Ovogenebank (formerly known as "First Egg Bank").
This Malaysian egg bank is closely-affiliated with the Island Fertility Centre in Penang. An added advantage is that they also provide fresh donor eggs to patients of Island Fertility Centre.
You may consider going there after this pandemic is over.
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Angelica Cheng
Member
Review of egg donor agency and egg donation programs in Malaysia. Beware of additional costs in Johor !
singaporemotherhood.com
Review of egg donor agency and egg donation programs in Malaysia. Beware of additional costs in Johor !
Dear Ladies, Below is a list of egg donor agencies in Malaysia. Typically, these agencies charge between 20k to 25K Malaysian ringgits, if you approach them directly. Cost will usually be higher if you ask a Malaysian IVF clinic to source egg donors for you from these agencies, typically...
singaporemotherhood.com