Kanagavalli a domestic help now carries two sons belonging to an Australian couple, Susan and Michael. This couple had travelled all the way from Australia to Chennai as a last resort, looking for a surrogate mother, after a series of failed infertility treatments back home on which they spent $70,000.

But interestingly Michael and Susan are not the first couple from abroad to have come to Chennai looking for women who could assist them in having their own children. Chennai is fast emerging as a destination for surrogacy, where several; lower income group women are ready to offer their wombs on rent.

Such is the demand for surrogacy that at least four fertility hospitals in City have a waiting list of 10 to 15 wannabe surrogates.

Doctors also play a major role in convincing couples to go for surrogates. As Michael said that, “Our fears were dispelled by the highly trained doctors here who convinced us about quality care at an affordable cost.”

It costs about `7 to 8 lakh for a couple to have a child through a surrogate. The hospital gets `1.5 to `1.7 lakh — as `1 lakh goes to the surrogate and the rest for accommodation and medical expenses Dr C Geetha Haripriya of Prashanth hospitals.

However Surro¬gacy should be the last option. “It should not end up a business” warned said Dr T Kamaraj of Akash Fertility Centre