After more than three years of inter-ministerial and government-public debates and discussions, the Union health ministry has at last given the final shape to the much awaited Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill (ART Bill). The Bill will soon be sent to the Union cabinet for its nod to be introduced in Parliament.

According to sources in the Union health ministry, the Bill has received nod from all the concerned ministries including the union law ministry where the Bill was pending for a long time for its mandatory nod. A cabinet note on the Bill will be prepared soon and will be sent to the cabinet for its approval for introducing the same in Parliament, a senior official involved in preparing the Bill said.

The Bill was waiting for quite some time for the nod from the department of law, after the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which was given the responsibility of drafting the bill, had completed all the scientific part of the Bill. The ART Bill is being introduced in the country to regulate thousands of infertility clinics that have mushroomed in the country over the years.

The introduction of the bill is important as the last nearly 20 years have seen an exponential growth of infertility clinics that use techniques requiring handling of spermatozoa or the oocyte outside the body, or the use of a surrogate mother. As of today, anyone can open infertility or ART clinic. No permission is required to do so. There has been, consequently a mushrooming of such clinics throughout the country.

In view of this scenario, it has become important to regulate the functioning of such clinics to ensure that the services provided are ethical and that the medical, social and legal rights of all those concerned are protected.

The Bill, once it gets the Parliament nod, will provide a national framework for the accreditation, regulation and supervision of infertility clinics, for prevention of misuse of assisted reproductive technology, for safe and ethical practice of assisted reproductive technology services and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. It provides for the constitution of a 21-member National Advisory Board, under the chairmanship of secretary, department of health research, and also state boards, to exercise the jurisdiction and powers and discharge the functions and duties conferred or imposed on the Board by or under this Act.

Under the new Act, all infertility clinics, ART banks and research organizations using human embryos have to register themselves with the registration authority.

The Bill details about the procedures for accreditation and supervision of infertility clinics (and related organizations such as semen banks) handling spermatozoa or oocytes outside of the body, or dealing with gamete donors and surrogacy, ensuring that the legitimate rights of all concerned are protected, with maximum benefit to the infertile couples/individuals within a recognized framework of ethics and good medical practice.