A woman who made a heartbreaking plea to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews to cancel a pause on IVF procedures has revealed she “didn’t sleep” when she originally heard the news.
The Victorian government placed a blanket ban on the procedures due to Covid, prompting an emotional video from Melbourne woman Melanie Swieconek.
The video, posted to Instagram earlier this week, has since gone viral.
Speaking to the Today Show on Wednesday, Ms Swieconek said she had been left distraught by the government’s decision.
“When I heard the news on Friday night about IVF procedures being paused, I didn‘t sleep,” she told the program.
“The (video) was me just thinking, ‘I need to get this message out there because I don’t think anyone knows about this.’ I was sitting down to actually write a very stern email and it ended up being what I filmed instead.
“So, yeah, that was pretty raw.”
Hours after announcing a ban on all non-urgent elective surgery on January 6, Health Minister Martin Foley told reporters that IVF clinics were being contacted by authorities and asked to cancel their appointments with clients in an effort to free up more health resources.
In the days since, multiple providers have warned that the protocols – which came into effect on January 12 and are set to last 90 days, until April 12 – will disrupt some couples’ procedures.
The decision sparked immediate backlash online, with Ms Swieconek posting the tearful video to her account.
“You can’t have any idea what this will do to some women,” she said, claiming the 90-day ban would mean the end of some people’s hopes to have a child.
“To put a blanket ban on IVF for three months … we think Covid is a pandemic, infertility is a pandemic, and now we’re dealing with both.
She revealed she was 45 and will be ineligible for treatment when she turns 46 in October.
“So to have three months just stolen from me, and that‘s how I feel it is, is – I still don’t have any words,” she said.
Melbourne fertility specialist Dr Lynn Burmeister told Sunrise her clinic had been inundated calls from hopeful parents since the news.
“We’ve had thousands and thousands of phone calls this week and I’m sure the other IVF clinics as well, of very distraught women, and men, that, you know, that have to put their baby making on hold because they can’t do it naturally,” she said.
She said it didn’t make any sense to have a ban on the procedure.
“IVF are very short procedures. We take up the room for 20 to 30 minutes. The needle we use are not used to resuscitate Covid patients. The patients are using very limited resources in the hospital. “
