A new IVF clinic in London, Ont. looks to increase the odds for hopeful parents

Eighteen months after the closure of the London Health Sciences Centre’s (LHSC) fertility clinic, its replacement is now fully operational.

The Omega Fertility Center (OFC) began operations in the summer of 2023, but only recently were all programs supporting assisted reproductive technologies, in vitro fertilization (IVF), and genetics available.

OFC is funded through OHIP and private pay options.

Located on Commissioners Road West, the new facility will support a growing population of hopeful parents.

“I think the peak number of IVF cycles that we did at the hospital when I was medical director there from 2015 is about 450 a year,” stated OFC director, Dr. Basim Abu Rafea. “This center is equipped to go up to over 800 cycles a year. So, we are ready to handle higher volume.”

An incubator containing embryos (Sean Irvine/CTV News London)

Dr. Abu Rafea stated that there are multiple reasons why more cycles are needed, including more parents having children later in life.

“The demand for our work is increasing. Trying to pin it down is very difficult, as the potential causes. But one of the biggest delays is a lot of people approach pregnancy later in life, when it becomes a little harder, and therefore they require some help.”

The OFC medical team includes four full-time doctors along with 40 support staff.

Some are performing tasks that were once outsourced to other centres.

The laboratory inside omega fertility centre, October 24, 2024 (Sean Irvine/CTV News London)

“So, there will be things that were not offered at the hospital that are currently offered here. It does offer people who used to have to travel to Toronto to obtain treatments the chance to have it done locally. An easy example of that is what's called ‘pre-implantation genetic testing’, where we would have to test the embryos for any genetic defects.”

Dr. Abu Rafea reaffirmed the need for a stand-alone clinic as he reiterated statistics suggesting declining fertility in Canada.

“It used to be 1 in 10, but the latest statistics is 1 in 6 couples suffer from an inability to carry or have a pregnancy,” he concluded.