Public Awareness & General Administration
New ART regulations
- The Health Ministry had notified the Assisted Reproductive Technology Regulations (ART), 2023.
- It is aimed at providing donors and patients with better medical care and security.
- The new ART provisions impose restrictions on the number of times a donor, male or female, can donate (sperm/oocyte) in their lifetime, and specifies age limits for donors.
- The provision states that an oocyte donor should be a person who have been married at least once in their lives and have at least one living child of her own (minimum three years of age).
- She can donate oocyte only once in her lifetime and not more that seven oocytes can be retrieved.
- An ART bank cannot supply gamete (reproductive cell) of a single donor to more than one commissioning couple (couple seeking services).
- Parties seeking ART services will be required to provide insurance coverage in the favour of the oocyte donor (for any loss, damage, or death of the donor).
- A clinic is prohibited from offering to provide a child of pre-determined sex.
- Checking for genetic diseases before the embryo implanatation is needed.
Note:
- India, much like the rest of the world, is facing a dip in fertility rates.
