The regulatory vacuum in the field of ART in India was filled when in December 2021, the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021 (ART Act) (https:// egaze tte. nic. in/ Write ReadD ata/ 2021/ 232025. pdf) and the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 (SR Act) were passed. We surveyed medical professionals to understand their knowledge, attitude and perception towards the Acts and to offer an initial, snapshot assessment of their impact on the medical community. The government has already signalled its intent to implement the Acts and has published several notifications/gazettes to clarify and amend the issues surrounding the Acts (https:// artsu rroga cy. gov. in/ Natio nalAr tSurr ogacy/ faces/ HomeP age. xhtml#). We hope that these responses will help to voice the thoughts, concerns and suggestions from of ART service providers for ART to further clarify and rationalise the laws. Infertility is already a much stigmatised problem which deserves to be a higher public health priority. While the laws are a welcome step, changes in both laws is are the need of the hour to make ART more accessible, available and affordable to the millions of couples who need these services and for the health care providers who to be able to deliver them.
Keywords : ART Act · ART · Survey · Donors · IVF · Doctors · Surrogacy · Gametes
Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) have played a crucial role in helping individuals and couples who experience infertility to form families. This often involves third parties such as gamete donors and surrogates. Even now, a large portion of the estimated 27 million infertile Indian couples, especially the poor lack easy access to ARTs. The provision of ART in India occurs overwhelmingly via the private sector. Discussions for regulating the ART services go back over twelve years and more.
The Indian government has explored almost every possible legal approach to ARTs and surrogacy [1]. Sixteen years, eight drafts, and three parliamentary committees later, the legislative process finally concluded with the Parliament’s passage in December 2021 of the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021 (ART Act) [2] and the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 (SR Act). Both laws came into force on January 25, 2022. The Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Rules, 2022 and the Surrogacy (Regulation) Rules, 2022 came into force on June 7, 2022 [3].
The Acts fill the existing regulatory vacuum on infertility treatments. National and State ART and Surrogacy Boards set up under the Acts will advise the government on policy matters. The National ART and Surrogacy Board was set up in May 2022 and as of March 16, 2023, 27 states and union territories had notified the creation of State Boards. The National ART and Surrogacy Registry set up in April 2022 will maintain a database of ART treatments. Appropriate authorities will register ART banks and clinics and ensure legal compliance. As of May 14, 2023, 26 States and Union Territories had notified the setting up of appropriate authorities and 27 State and Union territories had notified Sate/Union territory Boards. [4] However as per the National ART and Surrogacy Registry till 14 May 2023 registration has been given to only 219 ART clinics from the 4446 applications, 78 ART banks from 1179 applications and 122 surrogacy clinics from 854 applications [5]. We surveyed medical professionals to understand their knowledge, attitude and perception towards the Acts and to offer an initial, snapshot assessment of their impact on the medical community. The Government has already signalled its intent and published several notifications/gazettes to clarify and amend the issues surrounding the Acts [4]. We hope that these responses will help to voice thoughts, concerns and suggestions from service providers for ART to further clarify and rationalise the laws.
Conflict of interest None for Jaydeep Tank, Parikshit Tank, Dev tank and Jash Tank.
Ethical Approval Not applicable
Animal and Humans Rights None.
Consent to Participate Consent of Participants obtained for participating in the survey.
Consent for Publication Dr. Jaydeep Tank and Dr. Prabha Kotiswaran, Parikshit Tank, Dev Tank and Jash Tank.
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