Breaking Boundaries: Prof. JV van der Merwe and the IVF Success at the University of Pretoria’s Medical Faculty

The film Joy that is currently showing on Netflix tells of the remarkable events that lead to the ground-breaking birth of the world’s first ‘test-tube’ baby.  In 1968, the British physiologist Robert Edwards with the collaboration of Patrick Steptoe, a gynaecological surgeon, were able to achieve fertilization of a human egg in a laboratory.  It would be another decade before Edwards, Steptoe and embryologist Jean Purdy successfully pioneered conception through IVF which lead to the birth of Louise Brown in 1978.

The success of the IVF treatment came under the attention of Prof JV van der Merwe at the Gynaecological Oncology Unit of the University of Pretoria’s Medical Faculty.  Realizing the hope that the treatment could bring to childless couples, Prof Van der Merwe established an In-vitro Fertilization Unit in the Department Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 

 A good laboratory and state of the art medical facilities are of cardinal importance in a modern infertility practice.  The Reproductive Biology Laboratory was established in 1981, followed by an In-vitro Fertilization Clinic and in 1982 the first IVF baby was born in Pretoria. 

Apart from service delivery to patients in the greater Tshwane area, the Unit focused on research and the training of technicians.  Between 1983 and 1984 successful in-vitro fertilizations at the clinic increased from 12% to 32%, making it the highest in the world.

Currently almost 1000 medical students are trained by the department every year at service-learning sites at Steve Biko Academic Hospital, Kalafong Provincial Tertiary Hospital, Tembisa Hospital and Witbank Hospital.  Training is also conducted at Laudium Community Health Centre, Pretoria-West Hospital, Tshwane District Hospital and Mamelodi Hospitals with outreach and support for these institutions.  The department also houses the SA-MRC Research Centre for Maternal, Fetal, Newborn and Child Health Care Strategies unit.