Vietnam welcomes first twins through surrogacy

Vietnam's first twins were born though legal surrogacy in Ho Chi Minh City, local media reported Friday.

A 34-year-old surrogate mother gave birth to two healthy boys weighing 2.1 kg and 1.9 kg at Tu Du Hospital on March 16, and this is the first legal surrogacy case in Vietnam's southern region, Tuoi Tre (Youth) Online newspaper reported.

The country's first surrogacy baby was born on January 22 at the National Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Hanoi. The surrogate mother is a 46-year-old woman from the northern province of Ninh Binh.

Since Vietnam legalized surrogacy in March 2015 with strict requirements, such as surrogate mothers and infertile couples having to be relatives to prevent commercialization, dozens of successful surrogacy pregnancies have been reported, mainly at the two hospitals.

In Vietnam, the most common type of surrogacy is gestational surrogacy and the success rate is 60-70 percent, local newspaper Nhan Dan (People) reported. Accordingly, a surrogate is implanted with an embryo created by in vitro fertilization, using intended father's sperm and intended mother's eggs.

Costs for surrogacy in the country are the same as in vitro fertilization, some 60 million Vietnamese dong (2,700 U.S. dollars). Endit