SabahCare Fertility and Specialist Centre Opens Its Doors to Hopeful Parents

Phoong (centre) and Jannie (second, right) with Dr Cheong (left), Dr John (second, left) and Dr Hatta (right) launch SabahCare.

20 April 2025

KOTA KINABALU: Couples struggling with infertility can now look forward to the prospect of parenthood, thanks to in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), which has brought hope to many facing reproductive challenges. This development follows the launch of the SabahCare Fertility and Specialist Centre, officiated by the Minister of Industrial Development and Entrepreneurship, Datuk Phoong Jin Zhe.

The new centre features a state-of-the-art IVF laboratory, operating theatres, outpatient clinics, and day care facilities. It is recognised as a stand-alone multidisciplinary Ambulatory Care Centre (ACC), providing comprehensive diagnostic services.

“The centre is heralded as a ‘saviour for men,’ because, unlike conventional IVF, which requires thousands of sperm to achieve fertilisation of the egg, we also provide ICSI (Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection). This advanced technology allows a single sperm to be directly injected into an egg for fertilisation,” explained Dr Cheong Yee Tsing, the Clinical Director.

She noted that they established the first public IVF centre in Sabah and East Malaysia at the Sabah Women and Children Hospital in 2010, followed by the founding of the first private IVF centre in Sabah in 2018. This initiative supports the Health Ministry’s mission to assist more couples in need.

Over the years, she highlighted that they have served couples not only from Sabah but also from Sarawak, Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, and Australia.

“Since 2018, SabahCare has helped bring more than 500 babies into the world,” she stated, adding that they have successfully treated many couples with a serious condition known as Azoospermia, in which no sperm is found in the semen.

In addition to IVF and ICSI, the centre also offers PGT (Preimplantation Genetic Testing) to help prevent the birth of children with genetic disorders such as Down’s syndrome and thalassaemia.

Also present at the event were Kapayan Assemblywoman Jannie Lasimbang, the centre's Chief Executive Officer, Dr John Teo Beng, and Medical Director, Dr Mohammad Hatta.