Latest News

  • Home
  • National
  • Modi cabinet approves bill to regulate fertility clinics offering IVF & other services
Modi cabinet approves bill to regulate fertility clinics offering IVF & other services
Tuesday, February 25, 2020 IST
Modi cabinet approves bill to regulate fertility clinics offering IVF & other services

The Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulation Bill intends to provide ‘safe and ethical’ procedures to over 27 million infertile couples in India.

 
 

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet Wednesday approved the bill for the regulation of clinics involved in providing reproduction assistance services, such as in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), artificial insemination and surrogacy.
 
The bill, called the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Regulation Bill, 2020, intends to regulate ART clinics with the objective of providing “safe and ethical” reproductive procedures to infertile couples.
 
The cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the bill after clearing the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020, last month.
 
The government, in a press release, called the ART Regulation Bill “historic” for the welfare of women in the country. It also counted the cabinet’s approval of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill last month and the introduction of the Surrogacy Regulation Bill in Parliament as “path-breaking steps to protect women’s reproductive rights”.
 
The press release said the government would form an apex committee of experts called ‘National Board’ to regulate such clinics across India. “The National Board shall lay down code of conduct to be observed by persons working at clinics, to set the minimum standards of physical infrastructure, laboratory and diagnostic equipment and expert manpower to be employed by clinics and banks,” the release said.
 
India’s infertility problem 
 
According to research conducted by Inito, a Bengaluru-based medical technology company, around 10-15 per cent of married couples in India, or about 27.5 million couples, face infertility.
 
Such couples end up taking the services of unregulated ART labs, which include gamete donation, intrauterine insemination (IUI), IVF, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), and gestational surrogacy.
 
The bill proposes that once Parliament passes it, states and union territories will constitute their own boards and authorities to regulate and supervise the clinics, within three months of its notification by the central government.
 
“The state board shall have the responsibility to follow the policies and plans laid by the National Board for clinics and banks in the state,” the government stated.
 
The bill also proposes stringent punishments for those practicing sex selection, sale of human embryos or gametes, and running agencies, rackets or organisations for such unlawful practices.
 
It also provides for the national registry of these clinics. The registration authority will maintain a central database and assist the National Board in its functioning.

 
 

Rights of children born through ART clinics 
 
ART services need to be regulated mainly to protect women and children from exploitation, the government stated.
 
“The oocyte donor (egg donor) needs to be supported by an insurance cover, protected from multiple embryo implantation, and children born through ART should be provided all rights equivalent to biological children,” it said.
 
The bill also intends to make it mandatory to conduct tests to help identify genetic defects within embroys, called pre-genetic implantation testing, for the benefit of the children.
 
“India has one of the highest growths in the ART centres and the number of ART cycles performed every year. ART including IVF has given hope to a multitude of persons suffering from infertility, but also introduced a plethora of legal, ethical and social issues,” the government stated.
 
Such clinics also serve foreign couples, the release pointed out.
 
“India has become one of the major centres of this global fertility industry, with reproductive medical tourism becoming a significant activity,” the government stated.

 
 
 
 
 

Related Topics

 
 
 

Trending News & Articles

 Article
Here is the full list of 827 porn websites banned by the DoT

While the Uttarakhand High Court has asked to block 857 websites, the Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity) found 30 portals without any pornographic content. ...

Recently posted . 61K views . 1 min read
 

 Article
Class XII Boys Raped 16-Year-old in Dehradun School After Watching Porn on Phone: Police

The four boys as well as five school officials, including the director and principal, were arrested after the incident. The minors were presented before the Juvenil...

Recently posted . 8K views . 1 min read
 

 Article
Sept 27,2001 Rahul Gandhi and his girl friend Veronique,was arrested in Logan airport in Boston

Rahul was having an Italian passport and was carrying suitcase full of dollars. Some say it was about was it $2 million. Rahul and his girl friend was th...

Recently posted . 7K views . 7 min read
 

 Article
TOP 10 GYM EQUIPMENT BRANDS IN INDIA 2017

True – Tr...

Recently posted . 6K views . 83 min read
 

 
 

More in National

 Article
Interest payable on rupee bonds issued abroad by Indian companies exempt from income tax

The government Monday exempted from income tax the interest payable on rupee denominated bonds issued outside India by a company or a trust to a non-resident or a...

Recently posted. 592 views . 1 min read
 

 Article
Who’s pseudo-secular now? Sure, Yogi Adityanath, do build a Ram statue – but with your own money

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s plan to build a Ram statue comes from the party which for 30 years has hammered us with the “pseudo-secularism” o...

Recently posted. 551 views . 1 min read
 

 Article
150 Million Years in the Making, This Natural Wonder in AP Is a Must See!

Interestingly, the site finds hardly any mention in the tapestry of Indian history and was only discovered in 1807, by a British geolist under the Geological Survey...

Recently posted. 709 views . 1 min read
 

 Reviews
Top 10 Companies to Work For in India



Recently posted . 1K views . 34 min read
 

 Article
Promoters get 90 days to retake company after insolvency proceedings begin

IBBI says liquidation under IBC should be completed in 1 year.

Recently posted. 424 views . 0 min read
 

 Article
The rise and stunning fall of Unitech

From being India's largest listed real estate company in 2007 to being taken over by the government, it has been a fall from grace for Unitech. 

Recently posted. 610 views . 1 min read
 

 
 
 

   Prashnavali

  Thought of the Day

“Our weakness lies in giving up. The surest way to succeed is to always try again.”
Anonymous

Be the first one to comment on this story

Close
Post Comment
Shibu Chandran
2 hours ago

Serving political interests in another person's illness is the lowest form of human value. A 70+ y old lady has cancer.

November 28, 2016 05:00 IST
Shibu Chandran
2 hours ago

Serving political interests in another person's illness is the lowest form of human value. A 70+ y old lady has cancer.

November 28, 2016 05:00 IST
Shibu Chandran
2 hours ago

Serving political interests in another person's illness is the lowest form of human value. A 70+ y old lady has cancer.

November 28, 2016 05:00 IST
Shibu Chandran
2 hours ago

Serving political interests in another person's illness is the lowest form of human value. A 70+ y old lady has cancer.

November 28, 2016 05:00 IST


ads
Back To Top