POKHARA: Doctors of Sahara International Fertility Centre in Pokhara have successfully announced birth of the facility's first test-tube baby on Friday.

The baby girl was born at 4 on Thursday morning to a couple who have been married for four years.

A team of doctors including Dr Giridhari Sharma, Dr Rajesh Adhikari and Dr Sushil Timilasina among others have successfully delivered the baby girl through Ceaserean section.

Meanwhile, some other couples are also in the queue, said Dr. Sharma.

The newborn and her mother are fine now, the doctor added.

Test tube or In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) is a reproductive technology in which an egg is removed from a woman and fertilised with a sperm cell from a man in a test tube.

With 48 hours of fertilisation, the zygote develops into an embryo which is implanted in the women's uterus and it develops as a normal embryo, if successful.

This technology costs around Rs 250,000, said Dr Sharma.

The first test-tube baby of Nepal was delivered at Om Hospital and Research Centre Pvt Ltd. on March 17, 2005