Two women join hands to address infertility in women
Entrepreneurs Dr Nirmala R and Dr Varsha Samson Roy joined hands ten years ago to bring joy to the lives of many a woman. Both successful medical practitioners, they decided to relieve the pain point of many women by addressing a very crucial area of healthcare – infertility.
That was the genesis of the Advanced fertility centre, started by the doctor duo in 2004 at J P Nagar in Bengaluru. A speciality centre, it concentrates largely on infertility treatment. The clinical side is supervised by Dr Nirmala R and Dr Varsha Samson Roy heads the embryological division of the centre.
Dr Nirmala R is an established name in the field of infertility who has recently been felicitated with the Aryabhatta Award for her contribution to this sector. Armed with a degree from the National University of Singapore, Dr Varsha embraced the role of an embryologist. “I was pretty sure that I wanted to do this,” she says. She firmly believes that all kinds of advanced treatment are headed more towards the laboratory side rather than the clinical side in the next ten years.
Running very successfully over the last 10 years now, Advanced Fertility Centre co-founders say it was a very daring and challenging venture back then.
After working together at a centre for two years, they realized they shared the same passion and decided to take the plunge. “We didn’t have much financial backing in the initial days and got a lot of help from family and close friends,” says Dr Varsha.
The growth story
The founders did not think it would grow this big in ten years. The centre started off at a modest 2,000 square feet, leased out area, but they managed to put a very good lab in place. Initial numbers were 10-15 patients in a day which by the year 2008-09 grew up to 5,000 new registrations daily.
Being a woman entrepreneur worked to Dr Nirmala’s advantage as bankers were a little soft with them. On the flip side, negotiation with vendors was very tough as they seemed to take women for a ride. But there are no regrets today as the babies who are delivered there keeps the founders going.
YourStory team met up with the doctor entrepreneurs recently. Excerpts from the conversation.