The doctor who helped the world's oldest ever woman to give birth says his patient concealed her true age to get fertility treatment.

Erramatti Mangayamma, 73, was so desperate to have a baby that she ‘underaged herself', according to Dr. S Umashankar, who headed the team of doctors at Ahalya Nursing Home in Andhra Pradesh state.

According to Umashankar, his patient became pregnant after the very first cycle of the IVF procedure.

They then discovered she was expecting twins, which presented an even greater challenge to doctors.

A team of ten medics worked for nine months to keep a close eye on Mangayamma's health.

The regular scans revealed that there were no complications.

Mangayamma has waited 60 years to have children with her 80-year-old husband, Rajarao, a farmer.

But she is now the proud mother of twins.

Erramatti is from the small Nelapartipadu village in the Eastern Godavari district of India.

She has surpassed the age of the previous oldest mum in the world, Daljinder Kaur, from Punjab, India, who have birth at the age of 70 in 2016.

World’s oldest-ever woman to give birth at 73, concealed her real age to undergo IVF treatment and conceive at any cost

Erramatti Mangayamma, 73, was so desperate and determined to have a baby that she ‘underaged herself’ to avoid the chances of being ruled out for the IVF treatment.

"She lied about her age to avail the treatment. But after fact-checking with her husband and kin, who in turn submitted her school records, we discovered that she was born on September 1, 1946. And we got to know about this after she conceived,” said Dr. S Umashankar, who headed the team of doctors at Ahalya Nursing Home in the southern Indian Andhra Pradesh state's Guntur town.

The doctors told the family that they have to live in the hospital during the entire course of pregnancy. “I told her husband that I cannot let you go home as they would jeopardise our treatment plan,” said Dr Uma Shankar. 

Erramatti and her husband were fine with that arrangement. “But we didn’t know how to organise funds for such a pro-longed treatment and stay at the hospital.
It was then the hospital administration told us that we don’t need to worry about the expenses as the entire cost of treatment would be borne by the hospital trust,” said the new mother.

The hospital authorities knew that they were staring at an even bigger challenge after they discovered that woman was carrying twins. It was a double whammy for the team. First the woman was 73 and not 65 as claimed by her and secondly, she had conceived twins. “We formed three teams for her. One to look at her nutrition status, second one looked at her cardiac and other health parameters and the third one looked into her pregnancy status,” said Dr Uma Shankar.

So finally six-decade-long wait came to end. Mangayamma gave birth to two healthy baby girls on Sept. 5 morning. “Now, no one call me sterile. I thank god and the doctors who have this possible,” said an emotional Erramatti struggling to hold back her tears.

Hailing from Nelapartipadu village in East Godavari district, Mangayamma was childless after 54 years of marriage.

She was inspired to try for a baby with her husband of 57 years after one of her neighbour who conceived at the age of 55 advised her to go and see Dr Uma Shankar.

She along with her husband Y. Raja Rao had approached the IVF experts at the nursing home late last year, who decided to help the couple.

“In 2018, November 12, I had an elderly couple walking into my cabin. Initially, I had no idea what they had come for. But eventually they told me with little hesitation that they were hoping to have children,” Dr Uma Shankar said.

Since Mangayamma had also crossed the menopausal stage, the doctors had to perform a minor surgery and arrange a uterus from another woman.

A team of expert professionals closely monitored the IVF procedure by admitting the septuagenarian in the hospital in January.

Surprisingly, Mangayamma was neither diabetic nor had hypertension. This made the job of the doctors little easier.

However, the doctors prepared the couple, particularly Mangayamma, with several rounds of psychological counselling to stay mentally fit as conceiving at such an age might be an issue of debate for the people in the neighbourhood.

"It was difficult to monitor her diet and nutrition," said Dr. Umashankar.

The couple was firm to go with the procedure.

Mangayamma conceived in the very first cycle of the IVF procedure. Subsequently, three teams were formed to monitor her general health, nutrition and cardiac health.

A team of ten doctors worked for nine months to keep a close watch on Mangayamma's health. The regular scans revealed that there were no complications.

Last month, the couple wanted to perform 'Seemantham', a traditional ceremony performed in the eighth month of pregnancy. However, the doctors advised them to wait for a month. The nursing home organised the ceremony in the premises a few hours before the delivery. Hospital staff, relatives and well-wishers greeted the couple.

Her husband Raja Rao and other family members celebrated the moment by distributing sweets.

"At first I couldn't believe it myself, it is a medical miracle," Dr. Umashankar stated.

Doctors said both the mother and the babies were stable.

However, Mangayamma will not be able to breastfeed the babies as her body has stopped producing milk.

Earlier, 70-year-old Daljinder Kaur was considered to be the oldest woman in the world to give birth to a baby. Kaur of Haryana delivered a baby boy in 2016 following an IVF process.