Credited as the pioneer to commercialised surrogacy, Dr Nayna Patel has put the humble Gujarat town of Anand on the world map. At the same time, she has been criticised for exploiting women as wombs-for-hire.

In Dr Nayna Patel’s office at her clinic in Anand, Gujarat, a makeshift altar is created in a shelf beside her desk, devoted to many gods and deities from all religions.

She has a Christian crucifix placed in the middle, alongside some figurines of Hindu gods; a small picture of guru Sai Baba pasted on the wall and, beside it, a framed photo of founding father Mahatma Gandhi.

“I believe in all religions. It gives me spiritual calm and strength,” Dr Patel said.

In most Anand households, it is commonplace to see at least one of these saintly figures on the altar. But sometimes, one would find Dr Patel’s picture strewn alongside. These is done by women who revere the doctor so much they literally place her on a pedestal.

“I feel really bad about it but you can understand what they must have gone through to give me that respect,” Dr Patel said.

The 49-year-old doctor has seen her fair share of women who have gone through poverty and anguish. She recalled an Indian couple in their 30s and their dramatic suicide attempt. They wanted to kill themselves with poison but the bottle slipped from their fingers while they were crossing the train tracks.

With their mind set on death, they had wanted to end their lives by standing in front of a speeding train, leaving their three children at home. But the suicidal couple decided to have one last meal — rice packed in a piece of newspaper — before they die.

In a strange twist of fate, they chanced upon a recruitment advertisement placed by Dr Patel as they finished their rice. The mother became a surrogate and that gave the couple and their three kids a new lease of life.

Over the past six years, Dr Patel’s Akanksha Infertility Clinic has bestowed gifts upon many women.

For women who cannot conceive naturally, they receive the gift of a new life: a baby nurtured and delivered from an Indian surrogate mother.

And for poor Indian women, it is the chance to escape poverty by renting their wombs to infertile married couples for a large sum of money.

Former surrogate mother Hansha was one of those women under Dr Patel’s charge. The 39-year-old received a huge fee — 83 times her monthly salary — for her gestational services.

“Madame (Dr Patel) is like god to us. She helps us a lot,” said Hansha in her native tongue Gujarati. She gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, to a couple from the United States.

For her work with women, this fertility expert has been lauded by many people and singled out by fellow medical practitioners as the driving force behind commercialised surrogacy.

Mumbai-based Dr Yashodhara Mhatre praised the doctor for giving her the “courage” needed to pursue surrogacy and help other women.

“It’s only because of her (Dr Patel) that we are able to do this,” Dr Mhatre said. She has her own business in India’s financial capital, aimed at providing surrogacy services to foreign couples.

“If she can do it in a place like Anand and take care of foreigners and put everything together…there is no reason why we can’t,” said Dr Mhatre.

Even American talkshow host Oprah Winfrey was impressed and sent a film crew down to Dr Patel’s clinic to shoot a feature on her work on surrogacy.

That particular episode was titled “Wombs for Rent” and it turned out to be a milestone in Dr Patel’s career. “That was my proudest moment,” she declared.

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