Health professionals in Sweden are sounding the alarm over concerns of a sperm donation shortage spurred by the coronavirus pandemic halting inseminations in large parts of the healthcare system
With sperm donors deterred from travelling to hospitals during the pandemic, doctors at public fertility clinics say the worsening shortage could result in years-long delays for assisted pregnancy treatments.
Those planning to begin their own family now have to wait for around 30 months or more compared to about six months in the past year.
Reports reveal this scarcity is not peculiar to public healthcare centres.
Private clinics in the Scandinavian country are also grappling with sperm deficit, but they are now buying sperm from abroad.
According to the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, Sweden is among the countries with the highest assisted conception rates in the world.
However, the country also has strict policies around sperm donations, with a sperm sample only eligible to be used by a maximum of six women and most sperm samples in the country have reached their legal capacity.
