New Delhi: Even as there are many Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) clinics in the state boasting specialised services to help infertile couples have children, most of them work under shades.
Orissa POST March 28, 2015 had reported about the functioning of two ART clinics in the state. It had learnt the information through an RTI from the ministry of health and family welfare. However, nothing seems to have changed in the field since then. Although dozens of ART clinics have since come up in the state, there are only two who work on paper.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) that maintains the ART registry, hardly any change was made in the list from Orissa since 2015. Talking to this newspaper, RS Sharma, senior Deputy Director General, ICMR said, “There is hardly any change in the list since 2015. Most of the other clinics might not be coming forward because they lack basic infrastructure to undergo the ART procedures.”
Sharma said enrolling under ICMR can ensure they abide by the set of standards for ART clinics. The norms mandate informed consent of the parents, basic safety and precautionary measures for the ART process, testing of live biological products before usage on patients among others like testing donors’ sperm/ovum for HIV and other infections.
However, health experts opine that most of these unregulated clinics will be forced to get themselves registered with the government after the ART (Regulation) Bill gets passed by the Parliament which is still hanging in balance. Further, there are other problems that affect the ART clinics like their not informing the patients about the success rates that range from 5 to 40 per cent while there is no mechanism to put a ceiling on the ART procedures. Some charge as high as `1 lakh-`2.5 lakh for a single In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) session (commonly known as test tube baby technique).
Frauds in the test tube baby clinic business have also been reported from some unregistered clinics. In 2015 alone, many aggrieved families conned by a test tube baby centre had approached the Orissa Women’s Commission accusing an IVF clinic.
WHAT ART CLINICS DO
The Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) clinics help the infertile couple conceive through an array of clinical interventions like-IVF (test tube baby), IUI (Intra Uterine Insemination), ICSI (Intra Cyctoplasmic Sperm Injection) among others. They have become popular in the time because they can help men and women who can’t normally reproduce on their own with some clinical manipulation of their semen.
Manish Kumar, OP
