The McGill University Health Centre is inaugurating a fertility clinic that it says will be the largest in the province.
Dr. William Bucket is heading up the team at the new location at Place Dupuis, he told CJAD's Andrew Carter that with parenting often beginning later in life, the demand for fertility treatments in Quebec is high.
"Typically most patients we would see in Montreal would be between 35 and 40," he says. "Biologically the best time to have a child is still in your early twenties I think once you start being in the mid-30s and late 30s then I think it starts becoming quite difficult."
This clinic is opening despite recent changes to funding for in vitro fertilization — health minister Geatan Barette drastically cut back on who can access treatments as a cost cutting measure.
Dr. Bucket says that despite these changes couples are still seeking access to many different kinds of help concieving.
"The government is still paying for evaluation and most infertility treatments and certainly if you need infertility treatments because you've had cancer and things," he says. "However if you need invitro fertilization then that has to be paid for by the couple."
He says the clinic is not profit driven, and was opened in the existing Place Dupuis location after renovations to keep costs down.