Marina's pregnancy places Kolhapur on top of the world

What Moscow can't, Kolhapur can. Hands down.

Don't believe? No sweat. Ask Russian Marina who created history on Monday.

Marina and her Russia-settled Indian husband Ravindra Rasal wanted a child badly. But as the woman's fallopian tubes were both blocked, she couldn't conceive. So the couple opted for vitro fertilisation (or a test tube baby).

Between November 1992 and August 1996, Marina went for not one, not two, not 10, but 18 fertilisations in Moscow -- but without success.

Then, on a visit to her husband's hometown Kolhapur, she consulted Dr Satish Patki, a specialist in the field, at the Yash Fertility Research Laboratory, Patki hospital, who suggested a different treatment.

On Monday, Marina delivered a -- as they say in these parts -- bonny baby.

This is the first recorded case in the world where the 19th attempt has proved successful. The maximum number of attempts so far were 12, made for an Australian couple by Dr John Yuvich.

''The success rate of the procedure in the first attempt is about 18 to 20 per cent. After that, till the sixth attempt, it rises to touch 50 per cent," explains Dr Patki. "But then on, it starts dropping and after the 10th attempt, the chances of pregnancy are considered extremely rare."

UNI