AHMEDABAD: The birth certificate of Gema, a girl delivered in Bavishi Hospital in Paldi, Ahmedabad, states Rafael Gutierrez of Spain as her father but leaves the space against ‘Mother’ blank. Rafael is the first official single father as far as Ahmedabad is concerned. Gema was conceived with an unknown egg donor and carried and delivered by a surrogate. So technically she has no mother! Usually, in the case of newborns, the mother is always bona fide and it is paternity that is sometimes questioned, but Gema’s is a special case."When we sent Rafael’s papers to Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation AMC ), they had to refer the case to the state government for approval since the name of the mother was absent. But the authorities have cleared and the father got the certificate sans the mother’s name. "This is an encouraging move for assisted reproduction," says Dr Himanshu Bavishi of Bavishi Hospital, who said this paves way for easier paper work for single fathers who come to Ahmedabad for getting a child through IVF.IVF experts say the number of men seeking to become single fathers is on the rise. "Single fathers now get birth certificates which carry only their name and not the name of the mother. I have helped five single men become fathers through IVF, mostly from abroad. It is a growing trend that many men do not want to get married but want to experience parenthood," says surrogacy specialist Dr Naina Patel of Anand.Dr Patel said the trend is catching among Indian men as well but most of them have had bad experiences with marriages earlier and do not want to get into wedlock again to become a father. "I have got a request from a gym instructor from Vadodara and a professor from Ahmedabad who want to become single fathers. Both of them have been in bad marriages and do not intend to burn their fingers again with another marriage. But they want to become fathers," said Dr Patel.