The Union health ministry has issued the draft Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2014 which aims at proper regulation and supervision of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) clinics and banks in the country, and for prevention of misuse of this technology, including surrogacy, and for safe and ethical practice of ART services in the country.
The Bill has been drafted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and has been given final shape by the ministry after several years of inter-ministerial and government-public debates and discussions. The Bill has been waiting for quite some time for its mandatory clearance from the department of law, after the ICMR had completed all the scientific part of the Bill.
The Bill, once it gets the Parliament nod, will provide for a national framework for the regulation and supervision of ART clinics (better known as infertility clinics) and matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. Apart from putting strict parameters for the establishment of an infertility clinic, the Bill also defines the minimum requirement regarding staff in an infertility clinic and minimal physical requirements for a clinic.
The Bill will establish the National Board for Assisted Reproductive Technology which will be headquartered at the department of health research, ministry of health and family welfare. The National Board shall consist of a chairperson and such members not exceeding 23 who shall be appointed by the central government on the recommendations of the selection committee constituted under section 5. The Board will have a nominee each from Indian professional society concerned primarily with assisted reproduction; National Commission for Woman; National Commission for Protection of Child Right; and a nominee from Medical Council of India.
The National Board will take measures to develop new policies in the area of Assisted Reproductive Technology and to assist the State Boards in accreditation and regulation of services of Assisted Reproductive Technology clinics and banks in the country.
The government felt the need for a Bill regulating the infertility clinics in the wake of mushrooming of infertility clinics in the country since the early 80s. In the Indian context where barrenness is looked down upon, infertile patients look up to ART as the last resort to parenthood. Many of these technologies require enormous technical expertise and infrastructure.
But, in the absence of a regulation, many of these clinics do not have adequate trained manpower and infrastructure facilities to deliver these highly sophisticated technologies and even services provided by some of these clinics are highly questionable. In some cases, the infertile couples are being cheated by providing relatively simple procedure and charged for complicated and expensive procedures. By enacting a Bill, the government wanted to control these violations.