Forty-eight years have passed since the birth of the first "child of the tube". Louise Brown, the first child conceived using the IVF method, was born in July 1978 in Manchester, marking a historic breakthrough in medicine. Ten years later, in 1988, the method was applied for the first time in Cyprus by the pioneering gynaecologist Dr. Takis Georgiou.
Since then, more than 12 million children have been born worldwide with IVF, which has now been established as a safe and effective method of Medically Assisted Reproduction (MAR).
In Cyprus, the legislative framework was established in 2015, while since 2002 the state has been financially supporting infertile couples and single people through subsidy programs. In fact, in the last decade, subsidies have quadrupled, with the number of people subsidized reaching 14,946 and the total amount spent amounting to €31,472,350.
But what is the landscape that makes up medically assisted reproduction in Cyprus today? What are the available methods of medically assisted reproduction and how much do they cost? What has changed in recent years in legislation and where does the success rate fluctuate? We are trying to answer these questions as myths and misconceptions continue to influence decisions, delaying or even preventing couples from turning to specialists in time.
The methods
There are currently ten IVF centres operating in Cyprus: five in Nicosia, four in Limassol and one in Larnaca.
In his statements to "F", Dr. Nikos Zotis, obstetrician-gynecologist at the Ledra Clinic and member of the Council of Medically Assisted Reproduction (SIYA), explains that the first method - which is not considered assisted - is to monitor the normal cycle of a woman having normal intercourse. The second approach, as he said, "is intrauterine sperm placement, or insemination or IUI (Intrauterine insemination). Where again we monitor the woman's cycle, we detect ovulation and on this day, after a processing that is done on the sperm, we place it in the uterus. This is the first method of assisted reproduction, the simplest and the least expensive. For women it is the most "painless" method but with less success than IVF."
Then we go to IVF and embryo transfer. According to the doctor, "when we say IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) or ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection). The difference between the two is that in IVF we place the schedule and a drop of sperm - which has thousands of sperm - in the dish (saucer) in the oven and let the fertilization happen on its own. While, with ICSI – in Greek Microfertilization or Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection – we essentially pierce the schedule and place the sperm in it by doing the fertilization. This method is indicated when there is a problem with sperm, but slowly over the years many centers choose it as a method of choice because it has better results with more embryos."
According to the legislation, techniques related to the above methods include, among others: intrasalpingic gamete transfer, intratubal zygote transfer, intraovarian sperm insertion, cryopreservation of embryos, eggs and sperm, assisted hatching, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, as well as surrogacy.
The financial cost is heavy
As far as the financial cost is concerned, it is high and varies depending on the treatment, the case and the Center. Asked about this, dr. Zottis said that the cost for IVF/ICSI ranges between €6,000 and €10,000. "It depends," as he explains, "on each case separately and on the treatments required. For example, if someone undergoes a Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) it can cost them an additional €2,000. There is no ceiling. It is up to each clinic and each center, as they charge differently." As for the IUI, the cost ranges between €500 and €1000, but no state subsidy is provided for this process.
State subsidies
The state has been providing subsidy programs for infertile couples since 2002, however the last revision of the Plan for the Treatment of Infertility came only in July 2024.According to the revised Plan, only beneficiaries of the General Health Plan can be served, with the exception of couples' applications exclusively for cryopreservation treatment of schedules for personal use, where the spouse is not required to be a beneficiary of the GHS.
Women up to the age of 53, single women or couples who have entered into a religious or civil marriage or entered into a civil partnership or are in a permanent stable relationship confirmed by an affidavit, couples or single women who resort to the method of assisted reproduction with a surrogate mother, after obtaining prior approval from the Council for Medically Assisted Reproduction, are eligible.
State subsidies under the revised plan are granted up to four times for couples who do not have children and are €4,500 for the first attempt, €3,500 for the second and €2,500 for the third and fourth attempts respectively. Couples or single women who have had a child can be subsidized up to three times, while with two children up to two times. An embryo transfer alone costs from €700 to €1500 and there is a subsidy of €500. There is - among other things - the subsidy of €2,000 for the cryopreservation of eggs for women over 35 and under 43 years of age, unless there is a medical cause. The cost of cryopreservation ranges from €2,500 to €4,000. As far as sperm cryopreservation is concerned, the amount of the subsidy amounts to €500.
The application must be registered within four months of the completion of the treatment, while the subsidy usually comes one to two months after the application is submitted.
In addition to the subsidies, there is also a free concession of up to 35 gonadotropin injections from the pharmacies of OKYPY. up to four times, while analyses and visits to gynecologists contracted to the system are covered through the GHS.
Subsidies quadrupled in 10 years
From the data provided to "F" by the Ministry of Health, the rapid increase that has occurred in the last decade in the number of medical procedures subsidized under the Subsidy for Infertile Couples program can be seen. Specifically, the number of subsidies in 2016 amounted to only 412, in 2017 to 587, in 2018 they increased to 1,043, in 2019 they amounted to 692 and in 2020 to 932. In 2021 after the revision of the plan, the number of subsidies skyrocketed to 2095, in 2022 to 2212, in 2023 to 2399 and in 2024 to 2215.
The rapid increase in subsidies was naturally accompanied by a skyrocketing of the amount spent by the state. Specifically, in 2016 €475,417 was spent, in 2017 the amount increased to €971,882, while in 2018 the expenditure reached €2,132,470. Then, in 2019, there was a decrease in the number of subsidies, so the expenditure was reduced to €1,307,500, while the following year, in 2020, the amount amounted to €1,956,000. In the following years, the amount skyrocketed to €4,668,847 for 2021, €4,415,854 in 2022, €4,759,150 in 2023 and €5,033,230 in 2024.
In 2025, 2355 people were subsidized, with the expenditure amounting to €5,752,000.
In total, from 2016 until the end of 2025, the state subsidized 14,946 people with the amount spent amounting to €31,472,350.
The increase in the number of subsidies, in addition to the fact that more and more people are turning to medically assisted reproduction to have a child, is also due to the fact that more efforts are now subsidized than in the past.
Data on the Subsidy Program for Infertile Couples
The change in the number of embryos
Dr. Zottis also referred to the change that has occurred in recent years in terms of the number of embryos that can be transferred, with the aim of reducing multiple pregnancies. As he said, until the age of 39 and for the first two attempts you can only transfer one embryo, while in cases where you are allowed to transfer more than one, you can only transfer two. That is, if a woman is over 39 years old, they can transfer two from the first attempt, while under 39 years old after two failed attempts, on the third attempt they can transfer two embryos.
At 40-50% the success rate
But what is the success rate? According to dr. Zottis, "there is a global success rate that fluctuates around 40-50% for each attempt. But this is a general percentage. It depends on each case, a woman can have 20% and another 60%." It depends, as he said, mainly on age. As a woman gets older, the percentage decreases and drops abruptly after 40 and very abruptly after 42, she added.
Asked about this, Dr. Zottis explained that "there is no upper limit on attempts, while in case the first attempt does not succeed, the second can be done very soon after one to two months".
In closing, and asked to give advice to people who wish to undergo these procedures, he said that "they must first turn to experts and not let time pass because age is a factor that works negatively". "The sooner, the more chances you have to succeed," he concluded.
