Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill

NEW DELHI: After the, the health ministry plans to frame regulations for in vitro fertilisation (IVF), embryo transfers and sperm banks — another set of infertility-related services and an industry that is mushrooming largely in an ad-hoc manner across the country. Estimates show that assisted reproductive technology (ART), of which IVF and surrogacy services are most common, is a Rs 3,000-crore industry in India.“We are aware of the way these clinics are increasing and that there is a need to regulate them. We are working in that direction,“ said Dr Soumya Swaminathan, secretary of the department of health research which had an important role in drafting the surrogacy bill.While regulating clinics, the ART bill is expected to set forth norms for procedures, sperm donations and embryo transfers as well. The ART (assisted reproductive technology) bill is also expected to draw a clear framework for compensation and bring out guidelines on pricing of such procedures. “The draft ART bill will be brought to the public domain very soon. The draft bill is quite old and requires some changes. We need to bring other things under its purview. We are working to do that,“ an official said.While regulations for surrogacy were also initially part of an overarching ART bill, the government later hived off surrogacy and framed a separate legislation for it.“There was an urgency to regulate surrogacy as it was going out of control and the government had given repeated assurances in Parliament,“ Swaminathan said.The Union Cabinet approved the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016 on Wednesday , imposing a ban on commercial surrogacy while allowing “altruistic surrogacy“ where only “close relatives“ can be surrogate mothers for Indian couples.Infertility is on the rise in India due to erratic modern lifestyles and late marriages and an increasing number of couples are opting for ART.However, there are serious concerns over the success rate of ART. Though there are no official estimates or data on ARTs, sources in the government as well as industry say the success rate of ART in India is not more than 20-30%.Studies show infertility is becoming a common medical problem in the age group of 30-40 years in India.