A wealthy Chinese couple has become parents to eight children using in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment and two surrogate mothers, Guangzhou Daily reported Monday.
First the mother gave birth to triplets in October after undergoing IVF treatment. A few days later two surrogate mothers hired by the couple gave birth to another set of triplets and twins also using IVF.
Now the family employs 11 nurses to care the four girls and four boys.
The mother, a successful business woman who has not been named, had been unsuccessful in the previous attempts to have children through various medical techniques.
The couple didn't expect all eight embryos would succeed, according to a man who knows the couple speaking anonymously to the newspaper. Normally, only 30 percent of tube embryos succeed and the couple expected two or three to survive.
He said: "The couple were anxious for babies and had no difficulty in affording tube babies, surrogates or living expense, so they decided to keep them all."
But medical expert Dong Yuzheng criticized the births and warned the success of eight embryos should not be promoted because "there are some potential risks".
"The case is an abuse of assisted reproductive techniques," said Dong. "The original value of the technique is distorted and the eagerness of infertile couple was expanded unlimitedly in this case."