CHA Medical Group proudly announced the opening of Korea’s inaugural global infertility training center situated at the CHA Bio Complex in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province.
Spanning approximately 330 square meters on the second basement level of the complex, this state-of-the-art facility is meticulously crafted to replicate the infrastructure of the hospital’s existing infertility research laboratories.
The hospital emphasized the critical role of technical proficiency among infertility researchers, attributing 60-70 percent of success rates in infertility treatments to this factor. However, Korea presently grapples with a dearth of specialized training facilities tailored for these researchers.
Inadequate practical training for new graduates often leads them to commence work in clinics, resulting in success rates fluctuating between 20 percent to 65 percent across different clinics. Enhancing the skills of these researchers emerges as pivotal in elevating pregnancy success rates.
In a proactive measure to address this pressing issue, the hospital resolved to establish a center equipped with cutting-edge technology and facilities utilized in infertility treatments. The primary objective is to offer avant-garde education and training. The curriculum at the center encompasses theoretical lectures and hands-on sessions utilizing reproductive cells from animals.
Conducted by infertility researchers holding PhD-level qualifications and boasting over two decades of practical experience, the courses impart essential techniques including intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), embryo biopsy, and advanced culturing technologies.
The hospital anticipates that the center will not only attract domestic researchers but also international counterparts keen on enhancing their proficiency.
In tandem with this initiative, plans are underway to forge a collaborative alliance with the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), the foremost authority in the domain. Additionally, CHA University aims to develop affiliated academic programs to serve as a premier training institution for infertility researchers across the Asia-Oceania region.
Vice President Ko Jung-jae of CHA Advanced Research Institute remarked, “If we can augment the success rates of domestic infertility centers by a mere 10 percent, it could yield over 10,000 additional births annually and alleviate insurance costs by over 50 billion won ($36.6 million). We are unwavering in our commitment to disseminate the wealth of knowledge and expertise amassed over the past four decades to enhance the skills of our domestic infertility researchers to meet the highest global standards.”
Since achieving the world’s first successful pregnancy and birth from an immature egg in 1989, CHA Hospital has emerged as a trailblazer in infertility treatment innovations in Korea.
In 1998, the hospital pioneered the world’s first vitrification method for egg freezing, followed by the establishment of the world’s premier egg bank in 1999.
The significance of egg banks as a standard infertility treatment modality garnered recognition from the International Society for Reproductive Medicine at the 2014 ASRM conference in Hawaii.
Meanwhile, the commendable success rates of CHA Hospital’s infertility centers are attributable to their meticulously standardized research laboratories, uniformly implemented across all six domestic centers.
The reproductive medicine division of the hospital meticulously designs and systematizes protocols for all infertility center laboratories, ensuring standardization of equipment and systems, alongside providing continuous training for researchers. This standardized approach is also extended to 13 centers in Australia, ensuring consistent delivery of high-quality care.
