Feldkirch fertility centre opens new home after 40 years

Feldkirch’s fertility centre has opened new premises designed for modern treatment and greater patient privacy, ORF reported. The move comes 40 years after the first baby was born at the city’s regional hospital with the help of fertility medicine.

The centre began operating in 1985, initially alternating between hospitals in Hohenems and Feldkirch. Since 2008, it has been based continuously in Feldkirch. Around 200 children a year are now born in Vorarlberg following fertility treatment. A total of 203 were born after IVF last year, and 215 had been born by November 5 this year.

Treatment volumes have also risen. The centre now carries out more than 500 egg retrievals a year, and it performed more than 900 treatment cycles last year. The Vorarlberg Hospital Operating Company says several thousand children have been born with the help of fertility medicine since the mid-1980s.

The new centre is in a building complex opposite Feldkirch Regional Hospital. Its 300 square metres were planned specifically for fertility treatment and an IVF laboratory. Defined work areas and shorter routes are intended to improve laboratory processes, while a separate entrance will give patients and couples more privacy.

The centre cost 2.4 million euros to build. The wider project also includes 415 square metres of hospital company office space, costing 1.8 million euros, and 70 staff apartments. The housing was developed and built by Wohnbauselbsthilfe for 28 million euros, with the hospital company acting as the main tenant.

Eight people in medicine, biology and nursing currently work at the centre. Its medical director, senior physician Norbert Loacker, said the new premises combine modern medicine with personal and discreet care.

Treatment methods and laboratory conditions have improved over the years, the centre said. IVF brings eggs and sperm together in a dish, while ICSI involves injecting a selected sperm cell into an egg. Advances have also been made in hormone stimulation, embryo culture and cryopreservation, the freezing of embryos.

Patients who pay for treatment themselves face costs of 3,840 euros for IVF or 4,140 euros for ICSI, plus estimated medication costs of 1,500 euros. If eligibility requirements are met, Austria’s IVF fund covers 70 percent of treatment costs, including necessary medication. The remaining share is 1,245.65 euros for IVF or 1,310.98 euros for ICSI, according to the hospital company. Funding is generally limited to four attempts for each intended pregnancy.