The Union home and external affairs ministries have taken objections to some of the provisions in the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill which is being introduced in the country to regulate thousands of infertility clinics that have mushroomed in the country over the past several years.

According to sources, both these ministries have taken objections in some of the provisions in the Bill regarding the issue of nationality. Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), which is giving final shape to the Bill, will soon convene another meeting with senior officials of these ministries to dispel any apprehensions on the issue of nationality in the Bill. However, no date has been fixed for the high level meeting.

Once the objections of different ministries are taken care of, the Bill will go to the Union cabinet for its final approval. After the cabinet nod, the Bill will be introduced in Parliament, possibly in the next session of Parliament, sources said.

The bill, once it gets the Parliament nod, will provide for a national framework for the regulation and supervision of assisted reproductive technology (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 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 couple 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.

Earlier, the health ministry had incorporated several changes in the draft Bill as it had received a large number of suggestions and comments from foreign countries, embassies, legal institutions, international institutions, experts and others on the draft bill. The government had some time back published the draft bill and had invited suggestions and comments from the public on the proposed bill. The Bill, drafted by an 11-member expert committee appointed by the health ministry, proposes to establish a National Advisory Board and state Boards to regulate and supervise the establishment and functioning of the infertility clinics in the country.