Laws to regulate infertility treatment

Star: KUALA LUMPUR: A law is being formulated to guard against the mixing of genes during infertility treatments, in the light of the increasing number of couples turning to such treatments to have babies.
“This will ensure proper scrutiny, licensing and audit of ART centres as well as ensuring that only appropriately qualified and competent personnel are allowed to handle patients,” said H ealth Ministry director-general Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican.
The law, to be known as the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Act, would also ensure that infertility procedures were not abused but carried out competently by those who were properly qualified, he said.
“Any ART method practised must guard against any mixing of the genes in order to preserve the inheritance of genes and heredity. Every newborn child must relate unequivocally to a biological and legal father and mother.
“An accurate and ‘foolproof’ system of documentation must be in place to guard against the mixing of lineages and commercialism,” he said when launching the first National Reproductive Medicine Congress organised by the Hospital Kuala Lumpur’s (HKL) reproductive medicine unit.
He also announced the first frozen embryo pregnancy by HKL where a woman, infertile for five years, was now 36 weeks pregnant.
Dr Ismail said there had been a surge in the number of ART centres in the private sector and universities to help couples seeking infertility treatments, with seven new private centres set up since 2007.
“ART is playing an increasingly significant role in enriching the lives of those who will otherwise have to endure the loneliness of life without their own offspring,” he said, adding that the service was already available in 20 private hospitals and several government-affiliated centres and hospitals.
The Act, he said was in the best interest of patients and practitioners and was almost equivalent to the ‘Human Embryology and Fertility Act’ in the United Kingdom.
He said the National Advisory Committee on ART would establish guidelines and standard operating procedures to be used by government and private hospitals and ensure a holistic approach towards ART.
Dr Ismail said the success of HKL’s ART centre, set up in 2006, had prompted the setting up of regional ART centres in Terengganu, Kedah and Sabah, to be fully operational by early next year, with more centres in Sarawak and Johor in the next phase.
Dr Ismail said they were concerned that the total fertility rate among women had dropped from 6.7 children per woman in 1957 to 2.9 children per woman last year.
“This is due to urbanisation and other social changes associated with greater stress due to lifestyle changes, long working hours, smoking and increasing STD (sexually transmitted diseases) infections.”
Reproductive medicine, he added, was not just about fertility but other reproductive health issues such as menopause, contraception and adolescent gynaecology.
Meanwhile, HKL’s reproductive medicine unit head Dr K.K. Iswaran said the number of women seeking treatment at their ART centre had increased from 50 in 2007 to 91 last year with the cost being partially subsidised by the government.