IVF clinic comes to town

Posted on 9th April 2013 in the Star Community Newspaper - Werribee, Hoppers Crossing, Point Cook

By XAVIER SMERDON

The man who helped with the birth of the first baby using IVF in Australia will now be helping Wyndham families take advantage of the life changing technology.

Professor John McBain, who has been working in the field of IVF for longer than any other specialist in the world, is currently seeing patients at the newly opened Werribee branch of Melbourne IVF. The clinic was opened last month and is operating out of the Wyndham Private Medical Centre, opposite the Werribee Mercy Hospital.

Professor McBain said he was excited to be able to offer IVF services to families in Wyndham. “As someone who was part of the team involved in the conception and birth of Australia’s first IVF baby, I’m pleased to be a part of the opening of our Werribee clinic, which will provide couples wishing to start a family the opportunity to seek advice and expert treatment and support from our local team,” Prof McBain said. Professor McBain said he had been overwhelmed by the response from Wyndham residents since the opening of the clinic. “We’ve been astonished by the apparently unmet demand of IVF services in this area,” he said. “We held an information session and we had more than 100 people turn up.”

Aside from being a pioneer in the medical field, Prof McBain had also been a champion for equality and human rights. In the 1990s he campaigned for de facto couples in Victoria to be able to use IVF, which was illegal at the time. He even sued the Victorian Government to allow unmarried women the right to use IVF, taking them to the Federal Court. He was in turn taken to the High Court by the Catholic Bishops Conference which attempted to stop his work. He won that case and has been intent on providing his services for as many people as possible since.

“Access is very important to me,” he said. “We’ve had so many patients really tell their tales of woe of long travel times…  and that is one of the reasons we’ve opened this clinic here.”

Read more about the Werribee clinic and team of specialists
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