Five months after the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021 and the Surrogacy Act, 2021 were notified by the State government, the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services (DMS) has started the process of registering hospitals offering ART and surrogacy services, and has received nearly 600 applications from across the State.
The State government had appointed appropriate authorities under the two Acts through a Government Order, dated June 7, 2022. Last month, the directorate instructed all hospitals, clinics and nursing homes performing procedures under the ART/Surrogacy Acts in the State to get registered under the State government and submit applications to the district authority or joint director of health services. The State has nearly 200 registered ART clinics. Official sources said they had received nearly 600 applications from ART clinics and surrogacy clinics. These applications were now being scrutinised.
An official said it was important to bring all these facilities under the purview of the two Acts. “Registration of these facilities is important so that there is standardisation of treatment. We will verify whether the facility has proper infrastructure and manpower. We can have control over the centres, and take action if they contravene any of the provisions of the Acts,” he said.
In future, he said, this could pave the way to bring uniformity in the cost of treatments to make it affordable. “Right now, treatment costs differ in different hospitals,” he said.
