Though insisting that he's just an ordinary guy, Pavornvitch, 20, knows that he and all the other 500 at the party are something special.

"Being the first test-tube baby in the country is something I'm proud of, but it hasn't made me different from other children," he said.

Pavornvitch and the other 500 youngsters, mostly 2-10 years of age, with twins and triplets scattered among them, together with their families were on hand to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Thailand's first test-tube birth.

The birth of Pavornvitch on August 15, 1987 came nine years after the very first test-tube baby, Louise Brown, came into the world in Bristol, England.

Of the several thousand test-tube children who followed Pavornvitch, 600 were fertilised and delivered at Chulalongkorn Hospital, said Dr Kamthorn Pruksananonda, chief of its reproductive biology and infertility unit.

Though assisted reproductive technology (ART) arrived 20 years ago, it was only fully established seven to eight years ago, he said.

Now more than 25 reproductive-technology centres have been set up nationwide, helping to welcome 300 test-tube babies each year, he said.

Most were conceived by a conventional IVF technique where an egg and sperm are placed together in a laboratory dish for fertilisation.

Some were fertilised with more advanced techniques such as ICSI, intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection, where sperm is directly injected into an egg then the embryo is inserted into the uterus.

Back 20 years ago, ART was a cutting-edge and controversial technique to produce children using embryos fertilised outside the womb. These days the technology has become a basic medical service that doctors can provide to patients with fertility problems. The controversy has moved to focus on more advanced technology such as cloning and stem-cell research, he said.

Kainapa, the mother of the first test-tube baby, said it had not taken her long to decide to be assisted by reproductive technology in making a baby.

"It was our [only] hope since we'd been married five years and didn't have a baby," she said.

She admitted she had not realised that her baby would be the country's first test-tube one. After Pavornvitch was born and hit the headlines of all media outlets in the country, tens, if not hundreds, of letters flooded her asking about ART.

"Understanding the feelings of the families that wanted to fulfil their lives with their own child, I replied to all the letters and gave them moral support to have a child through assisted reproductive technology," she said.

Dr Pramuan Virutamasen, a gynaecologist at Chulalongkorn Hospital, who facilitated the country's first test-tube baby, said IVF these days is much more efficient than 20 years ago. When Kainapa approached him to provide her with assisted reproductive technology, the success rate was less than 5 per cent and has now risen to 30 per cent.

Though insisting that the way he was fertilised was not a pro or a con in his life, Pavornvitch realises that without Pramuan and ART he would not be here today. At least once a year for 20 years he and his family have visited Pramuan at home.

"Gratitude to Dr Pramuan and ART is something we shall always feel," said his mother.

Pennapa Hongthong,

Phudit Mooksombud

 The Nation