Stricter Norms for Assisted Reproductive Technology Clinics

JAIPUR: All clinics in India, involved in treating infertility through procedures like artificial insemination with husband's semen (AIH) or in-vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF), will now have to get registered in the country's first National Registry of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) clinics in India.

In order to regulate the ART trade in India, the Union health ministry and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) are setting up the Registry "with a view to providing appropriate help and assistance to all those who are engaged in taking care of infertility problems in the country."

All clinics practicing techniques such as Artificial Insemination with Donor Semen (AID), Gamete Intrafallopian Tube Transfer (GIFT), Tubal Embryo Transfer (TET), Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI), Testicular Sperm Aspiration (TESA), Testicular Sperm Extraction (TESE) or processing or storage of gametes (sperm and oocyte) and or embryos will have to be part of the Registry.

Each registrant will be given a unique registration number by the ICMR that could be used by the registrant for any legitimate purpose.

ICMR estimates that 15% of couples around the world are infertile...