State issues guideline for all surrogacy clinics

KOLKATA: State Health department has issued a guideline to all surrogacy clinics as per the provisions of the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act 2021 and also under the Surrogacy (Regulation) ACT 2021. The law came into force on January 25 this year.

All the surrogacy clinics have been asked to follow the guideline issued by the government. The guidelines clearly spelt out what are the steps an intending couple or an intending woman ought to follow. The guideline said that an intending couple or an intending woman must first apply to the office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health in the districts to get to know the surrogacy procedures. A certificate of medical indication has to be obtained from the district medical board as per the provision of Surrogacy (Regulation) Rules 2022.

A woman may opt for surrogacy if she has no uterus or missing uterus or abnormal uterus (like hypoplastic uterus or intrauterine adhesions of thin endometrium or in case of small unicornuate uterus. It can be undertaken if a patient's uterus is surgically removed due to any medical conditions such as gynecological cancer. Intending women who have repeatedly failed to conceive after multiple in vitro fertilization or intracytoplasmic sperm injection attempts may also take this procedure. Patients who have suffered from multiple pregnancy losses resulting from an unexplained medical reason can also adopt this.

The intending couple or woman will also have to obtain an order concerning the parentage and the custody of the child to be born through surrogacy passed by a first class magistrate.

For the issuance of the eligibility certificate the intending couple has to be married and between the age of 23 to 50 years in case of female while in case of male the age would be 26 to 55.