Couples catch up on fees for storage of their frozen embryos

The adoption of the universal second-child policy in China has helped Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, a major obstetrics hospital in Beijing, to collect fees owed by its patients, the hospital said.

"The number of couples who have come to the hospital to pay the storage fees for their embryos has increased after the policy was announced at the end of last year," said Lan Yonglian, deputy director of the hospital's reproductive medicine department.

Usually, doctors acquire more than one egg from a woman for in vitro fertilization and develop several embryos for transplant. Not all the embryos will be used, and surplus embryos are preserved for future use.