An In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) facility in Bengaluru’s Indiranagar has reportedly been ordered by a city consumer court to refund 4.8 lakhs to a man who had paid the amount in order to have a child through surrogacy.
The 40-year-old Mysuru native is a divorcee who had seen an ad in a paper in 2016 by Dr Rama’s Fertility IVF Centre stating that it offered surrogacy services for those looking to have a child through the same. As per reports, the man contacted the centre and was told that for a total of 7 lakh rupees, they would be able to help him and for an additional 1.5 lakh rupees he’d be able to have twins. On the first visit, he was to pay the initial fees of 2.25 lakhs. Subsequently, he ended up paying a total of 4.8 lakhs as advised, only to be told later by doctors that single men were not eligible to have a child through this method.
Suspecting that some foul play was afoot, he approached a city consumer court which ordered the clinic to refund his money.
The man stated that it took the hospital nearly eight months to introduce a surrogate mother to him. He was coerced into paying 2.5 lakhs more. When he was to meet the surrogate mother, he was told that she had met with an accident on the way to the hospital, and had taken half of the money and absconded.
When the man and his family confronted the IVF centre, they said that single men were not eligible to have children through surrogacy and refused to give him his refund. However, when he insisted on a full refund, the doctors told him that they had found him another surrogate.
In March of this year the victim approached a consumer court in Shantinagar with his complaint. On October 26, the court ordered the doctors to pay the man 3 lakhs as compensation as well as refund him his 4.8 lakhs.