NPC brokers in Hanoi “advertise” Thailand as “the industrial center of human production”. DTH brokers in Ho Chi Minh City advise on choosing the sex of the fetus by taking it to Thailand to perform the procedure.
It is worth mentioning that if the customer does not have a marriage certificate, the brokers will "take on" the role of making a fake marriage certificate, translating it into two languages (English and Thai) to legalize the IVF application abroad.
Fetal sex selection brokers are becoming a lucrative profession.
"Lucky" job of fetal sex selection broker
To find customers, these places openly run IVF ads on all social media platforms and websites. They even go around commenting to “pick up” people who are in need of IVF and gender selection for their children.
In Ho Chi Minh City, Ms. DTH (44 years old) claimed to be the person who directly took customers to Thailand when they needed IVF to have a son or daughter.
To increase trust, Ms. H. listed the hospitals and clinics in Thailand that she is "collaborating" with to bring Vietnamese people to choose the sex of their fetuses.
“I have been doing this since 2012, so how many cases do you know? It’s been more than 10 years, so it’s been a long time,” Ms. H. also boasted that she had successfully introduced many famous actors and models in Vietnamese showbiz to Thailand to do IVF as they wished.
Especially for couples who do not need a marriage certificate, Ms. H. will help make a fake marriage certificate, translate it into English and Thai to legalize IVF documents in Thailand.
Regarding commission and translation costs, support during the IVF process in Thailand, Ms. H. said she would take 100,000 baht (about 73 - 74 million VND).
Not only that, Ms. H. also provides "full package" care for customers until they give birth.
According to the investigation, she is currently taking care of a pregnant woman named TTN (38 years old, living in District 1) who has just given birth at a large private hospital in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City. This is a client of Ms. H. who was consulted and supported to do IVF to screen for male embryos in Thailand.
On the afternoon of December 16, Ms. H. took us to the 4th floor, room 405 of the hospital to meet “real people, real events”. “This is the second time I have accompanied H., both times I chose to give birth to a son” – Ms. TTN said.
Also in Ho Chi Minh City, a website called P. International Hospital (Thailand) continuously runs all kinds of advertisements offering IVF services for boys or girls of any choice the customer wants.
A QL broker in Ho Chi Minh City is consulting a reporter about the service of choosing the gender of a fetus for about 400 million VND - Photo: THU HIEN
The administrator of this website is Ms. QL (living near Hang Xanh roundabout, Ward 25, Binh Thanh District), a famous broker who specializes in bringing Vietnamese people to P. Hospital (Bangkok, Thailand) to intervene in the sex of their fetuses.
Ms. QL boasts that she has more than 16 years of experience in the profession and cannot remember how many Vietnamese people she has brought to Thailand for IVF. “They will aspirate eggs and sperm to culture embryos, and within about 7-10 days you will know how many embryos there are, and whether your embryos are XX or XY.
The method of testing embryos is NGS, detecting abnormalities in 23 pairs of chromosomes, screening XX or XY embryos, it is here", Ms. QL advertised the technology of choosing the sex of the fetus in your country.
When asked about directions to Thailand, she waved her hand and said simply: “When the plane lands, you will be greeted by hospital staff with a name tag. They will pick you up and take you to the hospital to complete the procedures.”
She quickly opened Zalo and pointed to a woman believed to be an employee of P. Hospital standing holding a nameplate to welcome customers right at Suvarnabhumi Airport (Bangkok).
The cost of IVF to select the fetus's gender was quoted by Ms. QL at about 530,000 baht, about 400 million VND, not including airfare, travel and accommodation.
An employee of a brokerage company in Ho Chi Minh City introduces IVF services for fetal gender screening in Thailand – Photo: T. THIEN – D. THUAN
Meanwhile in Hanoi, on the morning of December 16, Ms. NPC (35 years old) advised on choosing a boy or girl to be born by IVF in Bangkok, there is nothing to be shy about, because this is one of the licensed industries in Thailand.
“Thailand is an industrial center that produces people, so you can have anything you want. An IVF procedure in Thailand to have a child costs from 100 to 130 million VND, and to have a boy costs from 250 to 300 million VND,” said Ms. C.
Ms. C. revealed that the "customers" who come to her are all "thirsty" for sons and most of them are families who do not accept "second or third wives".
And when "cooperating", customers do not need a marriage certificate, but will receive additional support at a cost of only a few million VND.
Ms. C. affirmed: "This line is very professional. For foreigners, they will take passports and translate them into Thai and English. This is only to deceive Thai law enforcement agencies."
For each successful case, Ms. C. will receive a commission of 1,000 USD (about 25 million VND) from the customer.
D.TN in Hanoi introduced himself as the representative in Vietnam of a hospital in Bangkok, Thailand - which provides IVF services for fetal gender screening - Photo: DAN THUAN
"Hiding" in the shadow of a health company
In addition to the freelance broker "bosses", according to research in Vietnam, there is also SKV International Joint Stock Company that participates in brokering this "lucrative" reproductive support service.
By running ads on Facebook, this company claims to be a pioneer in providing services to send Vietnamese people abroad for medical treatment, health care, and cosmetic surgery.
In the field of reproductive support, this company advertises itself as a comprehensive strategic partner with three international hospitals in Asia such as V., T., B..
Present at the office branch of SKV International Joint Stock Company (District 10) as scheduled, we were received by Mr. LTD (introduced as a medical consultant).
At the beginning of the consultation, Mr. D. criticized domestic IVF services as being costly and time-consuming for patients but not very effective. Therefore, the company was opened to “help Vietnamese people find specialized hospitals”.
“There are many problems with IVF in Vietnam. For example, domestic doctors think that well-developed eggs are taken for egg retrieval, but they do not fully understand the time, duration, quality and quantity of eggs.
Because of high domestic demand, they just want to solve the problem quickly so they can do it for others without caring about efficiency," said Mr. D.
According to him, all places in the country that do IVF to select the fetus's gender are doing it "underground". Furthermore, embryo screening technology is outdated and can only do initial screening.
Meanwhile, your country (Thailand) has been able to screen for all genetic diseases, defective embryos, gender...
From there, he introduced us to two hospitals, V. and J. (Bangkok). “If you don’t have a marriage certificate, you can only get it done at V., the team in Thailand will provide legal support for customers, including LGBT customers or single moms. All can support fake marriage certificates at a cost of about 300-400 baht,” Mr. D. suggested.
The fake marriage certificate mentioned, according to him, was used to legalize hospital records and has no external legal value.
When we asked whether the hospital knew about the fake marriage certificate, Mr. D. replied: "How would I know? If they knew, they would give it to me. It's mainly to legalize it. They create conditions for customers that are not in accordance with the law, so the cost is a bit higher."
Mr. D. said the cost of the procedure at V. Hospital was about 720,000 baht (about 520 million VND), including service fees for both sides and interpretation fees throughout the procedure.
Mr. D. added: “Customers will sign a service agreement with the company, and the company will closely support them until the baby is born.
However, the commitment of whether the customer is successful or not in choosing the gender of the fetus will not be shown in the agreement, because Vietnamese law prohibits this.
Over the phone, a woman claiming to be PTNN (chairman of SKV International Joint Stock Company) also advised us about IVF services for embryo sex screening at hospitals in Thailand.
“Here (Thailand) allows normal gender selection, I will have a good doctor at the hospital examine and advise you,” Ms. N. encouraged.
She also said that in Thailand, her company cooperates with many hospitals, but only V. is a 5-star hospital, meeting US JCI standards and the best in Thailand for IVF. If you agree to do it here, all travel and doctor visits will be closely monitored and supported by her company's staff.
Graphics: TAN DAT
“I need patient revenue”
In the process of investigating this situation, we also approached a person named D.TN (Cau Giay District, Hanoi). She claimed to be the representative in Vietnam of B. International Hospital (Bangkok), specializing in taking customers to Thailand to choose the sex of their fetus.
She asserted that she “needs patient revenue”: “We have to commit to revenue, so we have to have a certain amount of revenue each year. You just pay the hospital for all expenses, the total price for IVF gender selection service is about 700 million VND”. According to research, this cost is twice as expensive as in Vietnam and higher than some other medical facilities in Thailand.
All come down to one thing
Although they approach customers (couples and spouses who want to choose the gender of their child) in many different locations, all brokers in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi are all linked to one source, a Vietnamese person in Thailand.
For example, Ms. QL (HCMC) handed over a customer to Ms. HM - a Vietnamese employee in charge of P. International Hospital.
Ms. NPC (Hanoi) and SKV International Joint Stock Company (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang) both "introduced" Ms. TH - the person in charge of Vietnamese patients at V.. Hospital.
Ms. DTH (HCMC) is a freelance broker who directly takes clients to three medical facilities. She accepts all services from Vietnam to Thailand until the client gives birth.
Broker DTH led reporters to the maternity department of a private hospital in Thu Duc City and introduced Ms. TTN as H.'s client who had given birth to two sons - Photo: THU HIEN
Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health directed verification
On January 13, after the article “Finding a baby that looks like its father” reported that some hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City accept to screen the gender of fetuses for couples in need, Mr. Tang Chi Thuong – Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health – directed the Department of Health Inspectorate to verify the content of the report.
He requested clarification of the behavior of doctors and hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City who consulted and provided services to choose the gender of fetuses for patients. If true, they should be strictly punished according to regulations.
Also related to the article, according to Tuoi Tre's investigation, on the fanpage of the Obstetrics Clinic - specializing in IVF... most of the images and videos with Dr. T. - the person who agreed to do IVF to choose a son with a commitment of a success rate of 70-80% - have been removed.
Please watch the video on tuoitre.vn
——————-
Read next issue: Going abroad to "hunt" for a son
Comment (0)