New Delhi: The film Good Newwz might be a box office hit but it has hit IVF experts badly as it shows great artificial technique birthing technology for childless couples in a bad light. They say it is not a laughing matter.
IVF has often been a punching bag for activists. IVF experts have been coping with them with fortitude for bundles of joy to infertile couples. But the way film has portrayed the technology, they are miffed badly.
The movie is based on an in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) goof-up. IVF experts see it as derogatory and causally produced. Released yesterday, the movie ‘Good Newwz’ shows two couples with the same surnames pursue IVF and wait for their upcoming babies. As per the movie’s promo, trouble ensues when they find that the sperms of each couple have been mixed.
Experts say that fertility treatments are based on best procedures, processes, and ethical practices. Reputed and accredited Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) Clinics ensure that all processes are in place while treating the patients.
“The storyline of the movie is based on wrong presumptions. The promos of ‘Good News’ indicate that the movie shows IVF in a derogatory manner and it has produced causally. Infertility is a serious social issue and its treatment should not be shown in such a derogatory manner,” said Dr Archana Dhawan Bajaj, Gynaecologist and Obstetrician and IVF Expert, Nurture IVF Centre.
Infertility has become a common problem globally and in India also nearly 27.5 million couples actively trying to conceive suffer from infertility in India. As per estimates of a Med Tech Company Inito survey, the number is estimated to rise by more than 10% by 2020.
As a perilous public health issue, it needs serious attention of all stakeholders-patients, experts, policymakers and health insurers. According to the Indian Society of Assisted Reproduction, infertility currently affects about 10 to 14 per cent of the Indian population, with higher rates in urban areas where one out of six couples is impacted.
“ART helps couples facing problems related to infertility to start a family. Though the movie took up a serious social issue but failed to project it positively and effectively,” Dr Archana said.
According to the expert, ‘Good Newwz’ touches upon a social issue on which people need to be educated and made aware. Instead, it comes out with a misleading presentation of IVF and creates confusion in the minds of people.
Given the alarming increase in the infertility rate in India, experts recommend that proper education and counselling on reproductive health is very essential for couples’ planning for pregnancy.
According to the experts, there could be a situation in which sperm from another third-party individual is brought in by the male partner but claimed as his own. This sample could be brought as a home-produced specimen or into a collection room and placed into the collection vial. The intended female partner is then inseminated, or IVF occurs, and a child is conceived. At a later date, DNA testing may show non-paternity of the male partner which is a big issue and needs to be addressed. People could be involved in sperm related frauds against the clinics. “We would have appreciated ‘Good Newwz’ if they brought these premises to the forefront,” said Dr Archana.
ART experts are of the view that the ‘Good Newwz’ may create misunderstanding, confusion and fear among those who plan to seek ART which treats infertility in a very effective manner.
In the meantime, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Akshay Kumar, Diljit Dosanjh, and Kiara Advani starrer film has now landed into a legal soup. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Karnataka High Court seeking a stay.
