Surrogate Mother Dies of Complications

AHMEDABAD: Premila Vaghela, 30, had opted to become a surrogate mother and deliver child of a US-based couple to supplement her family income and brighten the future of her own two kids.

On Wednesday, Premila, who was eight months pregnant, died due to unexplained complications. But she completed her job - the child was delivered and is in the NICU recuperating from early birth.

Surrogacy has picked up majorly all over Gujarat where Anand is considered the global surrogacy capital. Ahmedabad too caters to a big number of couples who medically need a womb to carry their child. Couples are known to pay anywhere between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 4 lakh to women who offer their wombs on rent to conceive and deliver the child. The decent money offered by couples, majority of who are NRGs and foreigners, attracts many women from poor socio-economic backgrounds to offer themselves as surrogates.

Premila paid the price of offering herself as surrogate with her life. Dr Manish Banker of Pulse Hospital, where Premila was a surrogate, said that they are clueless as...