OTTAWA - A CANADIAN woman gave birth to twins this week at age 60, with the help of in-vitro fertilisation after decades of dashed hopes for motherhood, public broadcaster CBC said on Thursday.

Ranjit Hayer's boys were delivered on Tuesday morning seven weeks prematurely by C-section at a Calgary hospital in western Canada. She is recovering in intensive care while the twins are receiving special care, said CBC.

Ms Hayer is among the oldest Canadian women to give birth.

She and her husband had longed for children. 'I had my heart set on it. I wanted a baby,' Ms Hayer told CBC from her hospital bed through a Punjabi translator.

After suffering three miscarriages in recent decades, the couple paid a doctor in India for in-vitro fertilisation, but he ran off with their money.

A Canadian obstetrician-gynecologist later diagnosed a problem with Ms Hayer's womb, but after undergoing an operation she still could not conceive.

The couple saved for years to pay for another IVF treatment, but by then were turned down in Canada due to Ms Hayer's advanced age. The cutoff age in this country for IVF is between 45 and 50 years old.

They returned to India for a treatment using donor eggs, and got pregnant.

The case is now raising ethical concerns, even from Ms Hayer's doctor.

'We can do so much but the question is, should we do it just because we can do it?' said obstetrician Colin Birch, pointing to the social implications of parents raising children which they may not live long enough to see grow up.

'I couldn't imagine if I was 65 having two five-year-olds running around crazily. The energy to do that is incredible,' he said. -- AFP