Banafsheh Kashani, MD: Addressing Infertility During COVID-19

Banafsheh Kashani, MD

On March 17, the American Society of Reproductive Medicine released guidance to suspend fertility treatments due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which included all kinds of services. Patients were unable to have to go through IVF or IUIs, along with other services.

The guidance was released to adhere to the recommendations to have people stay home, social distance, and to reduce risks of exposure.

“Unfortunately, for women, this was really problematic,” Banafsheh Kashani, MD, a board-certified OB/GYN at Eden Fertility Centers, said in a recent interview with HCPLive®.

The reality is this: infertility is a disease and it requires treatment for many people.

“To hold back certain treatments that are medically necessary was very difficult for me as a provider because I live each day trying to help people and I wasn’t able to do so,” Kashani said.

During the interview, she shared not being able to receive medical care took a toll on a lot of patients who are reliant on infertility services. Patients felt isolated and felt it was unfair, especially as others spoke of quarantine as a time where many were planning on trying to get pregnant. For infertility patients, it just was not going to happen that way.

To learn more about how COVID-19 affected infertility care, watch the clip featuring Kashani below.