adminSTOCKHOLM. – Sweden is facing an acute shortage of sperm for assisted pregnancy as would-be donors avoid hospitals during the coronavirus pandemic, halting inseminations in large parts of the healthcare system and driving up waiting times by years.
“We’re running out of sperm. We’ve never had so few donors as during the last year,” said Ann Thurin Kjellberg, head of the reproduction unit at Gothenburg’s University Hospital.
The shortage has meant waiting times for assisted pregnancy have shot up from around six months to an estimated 30 months in the past year, possibly longer, doctors familiar with the matter said.
“It’s stressful that we can’t get a clear time or date for treatment,” said Elin Bergsten, a 28-year-old maths teacher from southern Sweden.
Two years ago, Bergsten and her husband learned he was unable to produce semen, and the pair immediately applied for assisted pregnancy. She was due to have her second cycle of insemination before her treatment was indefinitely delayed due to the shortage. – Reuters.
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