{"id":110657,"date":"2025-10-09T07:52:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T07:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/110657\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T07:52:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T07:52:08","slug":"ontario-says-25-fertility-clinics-to-get-first-round-of-funding-as-part-of-plan-to-reduce-ivf-wait-lists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/110657\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario says 25 fertility clinics to get first round of funding as part of plan to reduce IVF wait lists"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Lab staff use a microscope stand and articulated hand controls to extract cells from embryos, shown on the monitor at right, that are then checked for viability.Michael Wyke\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Ontario announced on Wednesday that 25 fertility clinics will receive the first round of funding as a part of its $250-million plan to reduce waiting lists for in vitro fertilization and \u201ctriple\u201d the number of families that can access expensive fertility treatments.<\/p>\n

The announcement provided details from the province\u2019s first major expansion of its Ontario Fertility Program, which launched in 2015 to help people struggling with infertility pay for procedures such as IVF. <\/p>\n

Six of the 25 clinics will now join the program and receive funding for the first time. This brings the total number of participating clinics in Ontario<\/a> to 54, Health Minister Sylvia Jones said at a press conference. <\/p>\n

An initial $50-million allocation is estimated to cover an additional 5,000 cycles of IVF across the 25 clinics this fiscal year, the province said in a press release. <\/p>\n

More clinics and their locations will be announced in the coming weeks, and the remaining $200-million will be rolled out in phases starting in 2026.<\/p>\n

National strategy for fertility treatments like IVF could help would-be parents facing huge bills and wait-lists<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cApproximately one in six couples in Ontario experience infertility at some point in their lives,\u201d Ms. Jones said. \u201cThis investment will expand clinic capacity and help triple the number of families across the province benefiting from publicly funded fertility supports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Demand for fertility treatments has soared since Ontario first began funding<\/a> the procedures a decade ago. IVF is the most aggressive fertility intervention with the highest success rates, but can be prohibitively expensive for many people. In Ontario, one cycle of IVF costs about $20,000, said Carolynn Dub\u00e9, executive director at Fertility Matters Canada, an advocacy organization.<\/p>\n

Last December, the province said an estimated 18,300 Ontarians were on waiting lists for government-funded IVF. Waiting times were about 20 months long.<\/p>\n

But historically, Ontarians had to wait anywhere from one to three years before accessing publicly funded IVF, said Prati Sharma, president of the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society and a fertility doctor with CReATe Fertility Centre, one of the clinics that will receive expanded funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing told that there\u2019s a wait list of two years, when [patients] are often already older when they\u2019re trying, is a huge blow,\u201d Dr. Sharma said. \u201cThe fact that we\u2019re perhaps cutting wait lists in half is a really great move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most medical interventions are time-sensitive, but this can be especially true when it comes to treating fertility, which declines with age, said Kim Garbedian, medical director of Pollin Fertility Clinic in Toronto<\/a>, one of the six new clinics to join Ontario\u2019s program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re over 40, even three months might make a difference. So, it\u2019s really important to get patients into treatment as soon as possible,\u201d Dr. Garbedian said. \u201cIf they\u2019re on a wait list for two years, they may \u2013 by the time they get the funding \u2212 no longer be able to have a child.\u201d<\/p>\n

New approach to fertility preservation offers young cancer patients hope for biological children later in life<\/a><\/p>\n

Without funding, patients often go to extreme lengths to pay for fertility treatments. Through her advocacy work, Ms. Dub\u00e9 has heard from patients who have resorted to everything from taking second jobs to selling their homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those who want a baby, building your family is arguably one of the most important parts of someone\u2019s life,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen you know you need to access fertility care, it can overtake almost all aspects of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Sharma said she\u2019s heartened to see Canadian governments recognizing infertility as a significant medical concern \u2013 especially at a time when other countries, such as the United States, are scaling back. <\/p>\n

In British Columbia, a new funding program for IVF<\/a> just started accepting its first applications in July. Dr. Sharma would now like to see IVF funding introduced in every province and territory, and existing programs expanded to also cover procedures such as elective egg freezing. <\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing what\u2019s happening in various provinces, this sort of movement to improve access and coverage really is great,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re at this tipping point in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Lab staff use a microscope stand and articulated hand controls to extract cells…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[275],"tags":[4320,4309,4321,9,4302,4322,995,4301,4314,4315,4311,4303,4300,179,2597,18,440,4313,4307,4333,4304,4305,3428,135,475,474,19,17,4310,3521,3136,4323,4306,4328,4329,4331,4326,4330,4324,4327,430,4317,4318,790,4316,4325,4308,82,4319,4312,4222,66,4332],"class_list":{"0":"post-110657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-eire","24":"tag-environment","25":"tag-federal-government","26":"tag-foreign-news","27":"tag-globe-and-mail","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","30":"tag-government","31":"tag-health","32":"tag-health-care","33":"tag-healthcare","34":"tag-ie","35":"tag-ireland","36":"tag-life-news","37":"tag-lifestyle","38":"tag-local-news","39":"tag-manitoba","40":"tag-national-news","41":"tag-new-brunswick","42":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","43":"tag-northwest-territories","44":"tag-nova-scotia","45":"tag-nunavut","46":"tag-ontario","47":"tag-pei","48":"tag-photos","49":"tag-political-news","50":"tag-political-opinion","51":"tag-politics","52":"tag-politics-news","53":"tag-quebec","54":"tag-sports-news","55":"tag-technology","56":"tag-travel","57":"tag-trudeau","58":"tag-us-news","59":"tag-world-news","60":"tag-yukon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}