Couples who have been married for more than two years without any sign of procreation have been advised to seek the assistance of fertility specialist. Dr Joe Mainoo, Medical Director of Pro Vita Specialist Hospital in Tema, gave the advice in an interview with Ghana News Agency in Tema on Thursday. He stressed that instead of making infertility an entire family issue, married couples should report to fertility experts for help. Dr Mainoo said the issue of infertility should not be associated with women alone and advised that both men and women should consult specialists when such situations occur. He, however, noted that criminal abortion and left over tissues in the womb after legal abortion could lead to infertility since the fallopian tubes or exits to the womb could be blocked. Other causes of infertility in women, according to Dr Mainoo are Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), vaginal infections, malfunctioning of the ovaries, fibroids in the womb, and damage of part of the brain that stimulates ovulation. Concerning men, he mentioned low sperm counts or lack of sperms due to infections caused by STDs as some causes of infertility. “If the sperm count in the man is not good, no matter the amount of eggs produced by the woman, there cannot be fertilization”, Dr Mainoo said. He advised that married couples who could not have children the natural way due to any of the above situations should go through the selection and preparation of eggs and sperms from the woman and the man respectively by a specialist for an In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) also known as artificial insemination. Dr Mainoo said between four and five hours of harvesting or retrieving and fertilizing of the eggs with the sperms, the insemination is done. He explained that there were two procedures in inseminating the fertilized embryo, depending on the number of the sperm count. Source: GNA