New Delhi: Two years after the central government enacted laws to regulate the sectors of artificial reproductive technique (ART), the Union health ministry has sought data from states on successful surrogacies and pregnancies achieved through this technique, ThePrint has learnt.
The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 and Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021 were passed two years ago to regulate the multimillion-dollar industry of reproductive medicine, defining who can access assisted reproductive technologies and procedures, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) and surrogacy, setting the conditions for gamete donation and surrogacy, and laying down the requirements for clinics to operate.
IVF is a procedure where an ovum from a woman is fertilised with sperm in a laboratory setting before being planted back in the womb of a woman, while surrogacy is a process where a woman carries and delivers a child for a couple or individual. Surrogate mothers are impregnated using IVF.
The ministry sent a letter to health secretaries of all states on 22 December, asking for category-wise data on how many couples and single women — either divorced or widowed — have opted for successful surrogacies.
The central government also wanted to know the breakup of successful ART pregnancies among couples and single or unmarried women.
According to the letter, a copy of which is with ThePrint, these statistics are “imperative to conclude regarding the proper functioning of the Surrogacy Act, 2021 and ART Act, 2021 by all states and Union Territories”.
“Through the latest communique, the idea is to start collecting data related to these services and states are not yet compiling and sharing statistics related to reproductive medicine data as envisaged in the Acts,” a senior ministry official told ThePrint last week.
According to the Acts that regulate these procedures, only married infertile couples and certain categories of women (single and unmarried) are allowed to avail of ARTs and surrogacy. Surrogacy is now done only for altruistic reasons, while commercial surrogacy has been prohibited in the country since 2015.
However, some medical experts view the latest letter as a sign that the Acts have not been effective on the ground.
“Why is the Centre asking states to share this data now when the Centre itself, through the National Registry — as proposed in the Acts — should have these numbers?,” asked Dr Aniruddha Malpani, a Mumbai-based IVF specialist.
Malpani was referring to the National Registry for ART and Surrogacy, which has been proposed by the Acts as a public record system for all clinics offering these services in India.
The registry, feel experts, will help increase transparency and boost trust in the treatment.
ThePrint has reached the health ministry for an official response over email. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
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Why is National Registry important?
Specialists in the field noted that the Acts mandate the creation of a National Registry for ART and surrogacy, which was supposed to be set up for clinics to report the data.
“As of now, patients largely rely on information provided by the IVF clinics and feedback from others, but once clinic-specific data is available, it will be far more empowering for them,” said Dr Kshitiz Murdia, chief executive and co-founder of Indira IVF, Tuesday.
He explained the data is to be submitted to the state government authority to evaluate the clinics based on manpower, equipment and infrastructure, and issue a registration certificate after getting an all-clear.
“Also, when the registry is extended to upload data from all clinics, it will serve as a huge database on fertility treatments, patients, partners, donors and children born through ART and surrogacy while ensuring confidentiality,” he added.
Murdia highlighted that these two steps boost trust in the treatment, increase transparency, help improve patient care, and support researchers in conducting scientific research on the subject matter.
Furthermore, this would put India’s infertility treatment segment on the larger international map in terms of high accountability and its data-driven nature, he said.
Highlighting that currently, only a few states are collecting data from individual clinics, Murdia noted, “Once the National Registry is extended to all clinics on data reporting, the input parameters would be uniform for all, hence, creating a standardised process.”
Shobhit Agarwal, chief executive, Nova IVF Fertility, told ThePrint that the requested details will give a realistic picture of the success rate of various ART clinics. “We hope this move will bring more transparency and efficiency to the fertility sector.”
He added: “An interesting trend here is the inclusion of single women/unmarried women as a category. Even in the single women segment, we see a few cases every month. Although currently in the nascent stage, we see single women enquiring about procedures like egg freezing, and this will boom in the years to come.”
(Edited by Richa Mishra)