Three of the city's top surrogacy clinics are under the scanner after Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria recently raised a red flag over possible visa norms violations by them.
The Maharashtra Medical Council has now constituted a two-member committee to look into surrogacy practices of Bandra's Rotunda Fertility Clinic, Andheri's Corion Fertility Clinic, and the surrogacy clinic at the Lilavati Hospital in Bandra. The committee comprises gynaecologist Dr Sanjay Gupte from Pune and senior gynaecologist Dr Bipin Pandit of Mumbai.
Sources said that the Foreigners Regional Registration Office -- which regulates the registration, movement, and stay of foreign nationals - had detected abuse of visa norms by the three clinics. One of the main discrepancies observed was that people travelling on tourist visas were being allowed to undergo surrogacy procedures.
MMC president Dr Kishore Taori confirmed the constitution of the inquiry committee and also the fact that the trigger was the letter received from Maria's office. Dr Taori said the committee has also been given the additional responsibility of framing guidelines for surrogacy clinics. The committee has a fortnight to submit its report. "Right now, the reputation of the country is such that anyone can land here and go for surrogacy by paying and without following any norms. We want that to change," Taori said, adding that all the three clinics have been asked to put forward their case before the inquiry committee.
Surrogacy remains a gray area due to lack of proper laws. Currently, only a set of Indian Council of Medical Research guidelines, formulated in 2005, are followed by the doctors. But experts in the field accept that not all doctors follow the guidelines to the core. A surrogacy bill has been pending in Parliament for many years now.
The death of an underage surrogate had recently led to the Maharashtra Medical Council issuing a show-cause notice to surrogacy specialist Dr Gautam Allahbadia. The minor, who died in August 2010, had donated her eggs at Allahbadia's Rotunda Fertility Clinic on three occasions.
In December 2012, the Union Home Ministry issued a notification tightening visa norms for foreigners seeking surrogacy in India. The notification stated that gay couples and single parents will not be allowed to undergo surrogacy procedures in India. Also, heterosexual couples have to be married for two or more years to be eligible to commission surrogacy in India. The notification also made it mandatory for these couples to visit India only on a medical visa and not on a tourist visa. The couples also require medical documents proving that they are unable to bear children normally.
The letter from Maria's office highlighted a Lilavati Hospital case where two couples visiting on a tourist visa had commissioned surrogacy.
While the embryo transfers in the surrogates were carried out at the Lilavati Hospital, both the surrogacies were coordinated by an agency called Surrogacy India. Dr Sudhir Ajja, founder of the agency said, "There seems to be some confusion as both the surrogacies were commissioned before the December 2012 notification. The FRRO had also asked us to give a list of names of surrogacies that we have already commissioned for exemption," said Ajja, adding that the agency has already responded to the MMC.
The two other clinics under the scanner -- Rotunda and Corion -- carry out the entire surrogacy process on their own and do not coordinate with third-party agencies like Surrogacy India.
Advocate Amit Karkhanis, who specialises in surrogacy laws, said that third-party agencies need to be regulated more. "In cases where surrogacy agencies are involved, doctors mostly have a limited role of transferring the embryo into the surrogate. It is the job of the agency to ensure that the contract is in place, the surrogate is being compensated, and the couple is following all rules," he said.
According to the Indian Society for Assisted Reproduction, there were an approximate 600 surrogacy cycles in 2009. The number went up to 1000 in 2010. Mumbai has a large number of clinics carrying out surrogacy procedures and couples from English-speaking countries like the USA, the UK and Australia form the largest clientele. A couple shells out anywhere between Rs 12-15 lakh for the entire process of surrogacy, including the charges of the surrogate mother. Well-known clinics in Mumbai do about 100 surrogacy cases in a year.
Ref:http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/cover-story/Top-surrogacy-clinics-under-MMC-scanner/articleshow/34343859.cms
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