Who can donate eggs
In Slovakia, egg donation is anonymous, legal, voluntary and unpaid. Anonymity is reciprocal. That means that you will not know to whom we have provided your eggs and the recipient of the eggs will not know who provided them to her. After a successful egg donation, Gyncare Center for Assisted Reproduction will pay €1,000 as a financial compensation to donors for their time and costs incurred.
All the terms and conditions for egg donation are regulated by the legislation of the Slovak Republic:
Act no. 576/2004 Coll. on health care, services related to the provision of health care indicates that for artificial insemination of a woman it is possible to use reproductive cells donated by an anonymous donor. Only a woman between the ages of 19 and 32 can become an anonymous egg donor. An anonymous donor must not be a person deprived of legal capacity or a person with limited legal capacity.
The provider with due authorization to perform the methods and procedures of assisted reproduction is obliged to ensure that the mutual anonymity of the unidentified donor and the infertile couple and the anonymity of the unidentified donor and the child born from such assisted reproduction procedure are maintained. The provider who performed the assessment of the medical fitness of the anonymous donor is obliged to keep the donor’s health records for 30 years from the artificial insemination procedure and to provide the infertile couple or adult born from assisted reproduction procedure with information about the anonymous donor’s health condition.
The donor is not entitled to financial or other compensation for the retrieval of her reproductive cells. The Provider shall reimburse the anonymous donor only for the purposefully, economically and demonstrably incurred expenses associated with the donation of the reproductive cells.
To become a donor, make sure you meet the following conditions:
- age from 21 to 32 years,
- no severe diseases,
- BMI (body mass index) maximum 28,
- minimum level of education attained: secondary school with a graduation exam.
Procedure for egg donation
- If you decide to help, just call the Gyncare center in Košice at 0908 297 710 or the our branch in Nitra at 0917 854 437. You can also complete the questionnaire for egg donors.
- Our IVF coordinators will arrange an appointment with you.
- After the initial consultation, you will complete the following tests and assessments in our center:
- basic gynecological and ultrasound assessment,
- testing for infectious and sexually transmitted diseases from a blood sample,
- consultation with a clinical geneticist,
- questionnaire of personal and family medical history.
If you meet all the conditions, you will be included in the egg donation program. The whole process from completing the questionnaire to egg retrieval takes an average of 3-4 months.
The process of egg donation
- Egg donation is preceded by ovarian stimulation taking approximately 10 days.
- You administer the hormonal injections yourself according to the protocol precisely specified by the doctor. Our nurse will explain the administration of injections in detail.
- During the stimulation period, you will undergo folliculometry, an ultrasound assessment monitoring the growth of your follicles (tiny sacs containing the egg). According to the results, we will determine the date of egg retrieval.
- Egg retrieval is an outpatient surgical procedure that is performed under short-term anesthesia and takes approximately 10 minutes.
- The next day you continue in your normal daily activities.
Would you like to become an egg donor?
After sending the completed questionnaire, our IVF coordinator will contact you and arrange the appointment in our clinic, where we will explain to you in detail the principle of egg donation and answer any questions you may have. This appointment will not commit you or bind you to anything. Your decision to donate eggs is free and voluntary.
Complications are unlikely to occur, however, it is necessary that you are informed about them. The most common possible complication is hyperstimulation syndrome in which the ovaries overreact to the treatment. You may sense a slight pain in your lower abdomen or feel a bloating sensation. Shortly after egg retrieval, you may bleed slightly from the vagina after the needle jab. However, the vast majority of patients encounter no problems at all. Egg donors are most often young women who continue in their daily lives without any complications in the days following egg retrieval.
