Type “best IVF centre in Guwahati” into Google and you’ll meet a strange problem. About fifteen clinics will tell you, in identical confident language, that they are the best. Every one promises advanced labs, the highest success rates, and the warmest team. After ten minutes of this you usually feel less sure than when you started.
I get it. This is one of the most expensive, most emotional decisions a couple makes, and the marketing is loud on all sides. So let’s put the brochures aside. Infertility is common — it touches roughly one in six people worldwide — and a good clinic knows you deserve straight answers, not a sales pitch. Below are the ten questions that genuinely tell a serious fertility centre apart from a nicely decorated one. Ask them out loud, at your first consultation, and watch how the clinic responds. The way they answer often tells you more than the answer itself.
Why “best” is the wrong thing to Google first
“Best” is a feeling. What you actually want is the right clinic for your specific situation, run by people who’ll be honest with you when the news is good and when it isn’t. Two couples can walk into the same building and have completely different experiences depending on their diagnosis, their age, and how the clinic handles them. So instead of hunting for a winner, go in as an informed buyer. These questions are how you do that.
The 10 questions that actually separate a good clinic from a glossy one
1. Do you have your own embryology lab — and who runs it?
This is the big one. In IVF, the laboratory is where the actual magic — and the actual risk — sits. Eggs and sperm are handled, fertilised and grown into embryos here, in conditions controlled down to the temperature and air quality. Some places that advertise “IVF” don’t have a full lab on site; they send your samples elsewhere. Ask whether the embryology happens in-house, how experienced the senior embryologist is, and how long they’ve been with the clinic. A stable, skilled lab team is one of the quietest but strongest predictors of a good outcome.
2. Is your success rate a live-birth rate or a pregnancy rate?
When a clinic says “70% success”, ask one follow-up: success at what? A pregnancy rate counts a positive test or a heartbeat on a scan. A live-birth rate counts an actual baby going home. Those two numbers can be far apart, because not every pregnancy continues. The honest, meaningful figure is the live-birth rate per cycle. A clinic that knows the difference, and quotes you the lower honest number, is usually the one telling the truth.
3. How many embryos do you transfer, and why?
There’s a tempting myth that transferring two or three embryos doubles or triples your chances. It mostly just raises your chance of twins or triplets — and a multiple pregnancy is higher-risk for both mother and babies, with more chance of premature birth. Modern, careful clinics increasingly favour transferring a single good-quality embryo, especially for younger women. If a clinic pushes multiple embryos as a default selling point, be cautious. You want a team optimising for a healthy baby, not an impressive-sounding statistic.
4. Is the clinic registered under the ART Act?
Since the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act came into force, fertility clinics in India are meant to be registered and to follow rules on consent, record-keeping and honest reporting. Ask to see that the clinic is registered. It’s a basic floor of accountability, and a clinic that’s proud to be compliant will answer happily.
5. Will the same doctor see me through the whole cycle?
In some larger chains you meet a different face at every visit. There’s nothing wrong with a team, but continuity matters in fertility care — your protocol gets adjusted based on how your body responded last time, and that’s easier when one doctor is holding the whole thread. Ask who your primary doctor will be and whether you’ll actually see them at your key appointments. At a clinic like ours, you’d be looked after by Dr. Arpita Sarmah and her team from consultation through to the result.
6. Can I see the full cost in writing, with what’s included?
A surprising number of “low cost!” quotes are low because they leave things out — medicines, ICSI, anaesthesia, freezing, the scans. Ask for an itemised estimate and the question, “What might I be billed on top of this?” A trustworthy clinic will walk you through it without flinching, and will explain EMI or financing options openly. (If you want to understand the moving parts first, read up on what an IVF cycle actually costs in Guwahati before you compare quotes — it makes the conversation much easier.)
7. What happens if my first cycle doesn’t work?
Most people don’t conceive on the very first attempt, and that is not a failure — it’s often where the clinic learns how your ovaries respond, how many eggs you make, how your embryos develop. The right answer here is a clear, calm plan: what we’d change, whether we’d freeze spare embryos, what the next step looks like. If a clinic only sells you the dream and goes quiet on the “what if”, that’s a flag.
8. How long have you been doing this here?
Fertility medicine rewards experience and a settled team. A clinic that’s been running in Guwahati for years, with a track record you can check on Google reviews and Practo, is a safer bet than a brand-new branch still finding its feet. (For context, Janitva has been treating couples in Guwahati since 2016.)
9. Is there real counselling and support?
IVF is as much an emotional marathon as a medical one. Ask whether there’s someone to talk to — counselling, a coordinator you can WhatsApp with questions, support through the two-week wait. Clinics that treat the emotional side as real, not an afterthought, tend to be kinder places to go through this.
10. Can I speak to a past patient?
You don’t always have to — reviews and word of mouth go a long way — but a confident clinic can often connect you with someone who’s been through it, with that person’s permission. Hearing it from a couple who sat where you’re sitting is worth more than any tagline.
A quick word on travelling in from Jorhat, Tezpur or the Barak Valley
A lot of couples we see don’t live in Guwahati. They drive in from Jorhat, Tezpur, Nagaon, or further. If that’s you, add two practical questions: how many of my visits genuinely need to be in person, and can the early consultations and monitoring be coordinated so I’m not making the trip every other day? A clinic used to caring for patients across Assam will have a sensible answer, because they do it all the time.
So, how does Janitva measure up?
We’d rather you ask us these ten questions than take our word for anything. Janitva IVF is an IVF centre in Guwahati that’s been doing this since 2016, with our own ART laboratory, a named doctor — Dr. Arpita Sarmah — who stays with you through your cycle, transparent written costs, and honest conversations about what’s realistic for your age and diagnosis. We’ve helped [X]+* couples become parents. Come in, ask hard questions, and decide for yourself.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Look past the marketing at four things: an in-house embryology lab, an honest live-birth success rate, transparent written costs, and real reviews from local patients. Ask the ten questions above — a good clinic welcomes them.
After your own age and diagnosis, it's the quality of the embryology lab and the experience of the team. The same patient can get different results at different clinics largely because of the lab.
Not necessarily. A well-run local clinic with a stable team, strong recent reviews and good continuity of care can match or beat a chain branch. What matters is the lab, the doctor and the honesty — not the logo.
There's no rule, but it's perfectly normal to consult two or three. Compare how they answer the hard questions, not just their prices.
