Union Health Minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss will inaugurate the first state-of-the-art IVF research centre in India on February 7.

The facility will not only provide test-tube baby facility but will also include research in basic sciences, reproductive endocrinology and embryology.

Comprehensiveness in research and service will be possible by multidisciplinary collaboration with departments of Anatomy, Physiology, Pharmacology, Urology and Anesthesia, hospital authorities said.

It will also open up a new field of embryonic stem cell research, bringing new hope for the treatment of certain serious diseases, for which no effective treatment is available.

“The IVF clinic was on the anvil for a long time. It is the only government hospital in the country that is offering such costly treatments,” Prof Suneeta Mittal, head of department of Gynaecology at AIIMS, said.

The clinic, announced in 2006 by the Health Ministry, took time to launch because of lack of space and other facilities. The clinic was finally set up in the existing Gynecology ward at the institute.

The procedure costs between Rs 70,000 and Rs one lakh in private clinics and involves fertilisation of egg cells by sperm outside the woman’s womb.