Fertility doctor delivers himself an £8 million profit in IVF boom

Mohamed Taranissi's private IVF practice has quadrupled its profits in just six years. His company made a pre-tax profit of almost £8 million - based on charging £2,500 for a basic single IVF treatment - and had £20million in the bank, according to its most recent accounts.

Our investigation found evidence of how fertility doctors have become millionaires. They include:

Harley Street fertility pioneer Professor Ian Craft, who is turning over £5 million a year with almost £850,000 in the bank.

Dr Simon Fishel, who heads the country's largest IVF group, Care Fertility. The firm has doubled its pre-tax profits since 2002 to more than £1.1 million and turnover has risen to more than £8.7 million. Dr Fishel, who runs the company with doctors Simon Thornton and Ken Dowell, was paid a salary and pension package worth nearly £200,000.

The profits highlight the huge growth in demand from childless couples desperate to become parents. An estimated one in six experiences trouble conceiving.

The average cost of an IVF cycle is £3,500 with hormone drugs costing an extra £2,000. But some patients can pay £20,000 to start a family as drug costs spiral.

The profits of Mr Taranissi's company are based on his work at the London Gynaecology and Fertility Centre.

According to the accounts for the year to August 2006, he has previously paid himself £2million in a year as director of the practice.

He offers a series of treatments, including egg-freezing for £2,000, while donor sperm costs £110 a sample and surgical sperm retrieval costs £1,250.

The initial consultation costs £150, while other typical parts of treatment are charged for individually, such as blood tests to check for genetic abnormalities, which cost £ 780. All the charges are industry standard. Mr Taranissi was the subject of an investigation by regulator the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority over licensing arrangements.

Several women allege they underwent IVF procedures at his second clinic, the Reproductive Genetics Institute in London, during 2006, when it was not approved for treatment by the regulator. HEFA allowed him to continue practising on a temporary licence.

He has also been accused of taking too many risks with multiple births. Just under a third of all live births at his clinic have produced twins - above the national average - despite the fact this can create increased health risks for mothers and babies. However, he is popular due to his success rate for getting women pregnant.

This year, clinics were warned to come clean about costs as soon as treatment is started amid fears patients are being ripped off.

A spokesman for HFEA said: "It is like a taxi fare meter. It is rising but you do not know what it will cost at the end of the journey."

More than one in four fertility patients are already forced to pay more than they expect, according to an HFEA survey.

Experts warn that the booming business of private clinics shows the NHS is still failing to provide adequate treatment for patients. Health trusts are recommended to provide patients with at least one free cycle of IVF treatment regardless of a patient's age or circumstances. However, individual trusts use their own selection criteria, such as the women must be over 35.

Patient support group Infertility Network UK said the rise in patients going private reflected the unfair system of fertility treatment and called for identical criteria for trusts that they have to keep to.

Mr Taranissi was unavailable for comment.