A senior Mumbai bureaucrat couple has been blessed with twin daughters through in vitro fertilization (IVF) after losing their only child last year. The children will be discharged from hospital on Friday.
The couple, Manisha Mhaiskar and Milind Mhaiskar, had lost their 20-year-old son Manmath after he allegedly committed suicide by jumping off a high-rise building in July 2017.
A month later, the Mhaiskars had written about the tragic incident they suffered and the issues concerned with their son's loss in a newspaper article. They made a bold move by addressing the topic of depression, which was appreciated by professionals of mental health care.
Without giving much thought, they decided to become parents again. They approached an IVF expert in December 2017 to take help of assisted reproductive technologies. "The couple decided to have a child after their son's death last year. It was a courageous decision to go for surrogacy," said a close acquaintance of the couple.
Both the IAS officers were working on important government projects in affordable housing and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan during the period of the girls' delivery in August. While Milind (50) is the CEO of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), Manisha (49) is the principal secretary in the Urban Development Department.
"It is a miracle," said Manisha on having blessed with twin daughters, who were delivered by a surrogate mother in a city hospital. "This day has dawned in our lives due to blessings of God, best wishes of all those who were with us and wished the best for us in our most difficult times, and the advances in medicine. It once again shows the hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things," she added.
The couple has chosen to keep the entire process of IVF and surrogacy confided only within their closed circles. At present, they are on leave and busy in preparing to bring their twins home.
