MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court recently directed the state health department to form medical boards in each district, as mandated in the Surrogacy Act, 2021, for issuing medical certificates for undergoing surrogacy procedures. Justice GR Swaminathan, who gave the direction, further opined that the surrogacy procedure should also be fast-tracked, so that eligible couples do not lose the opportunity to have a child through surrogacy due to bureaucratic delay and age limit (23-50 years for women and 26-55 for men).
The order was passed on a petition filed by a couple from Tirunelveli seeking direction to the government to issue an eligibility certificate to them for undergoing surrogacy procedure as they, due to the age limit, would become ineligible if their application is not disposed of by October 2023. Disposing of the petition by directing the authorities concerned to consider and take a decision on the petitioners’ application within a month, Justice Swaminathan noted a lack of awareness and implementation of the surrogacy laws in the state.
He said, the mushrooming of IVF centres and the prevalence of unethical practices by a section of professionals had led the parliament to enact the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021, and the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, which mandate a series of procedures to be followed before the couple desiring a surrogate mother to birth their child may be allowed to do so.
“While the constitutionality of the Act is pending consideration before the Hon’ble Supreme Court, it appears that even those who are eligible under the Act are not able to have their treatment procedures done because the authorities concerned are unaware of the procedures to be followed,” he observed. Though the Act dictates that the union and state governments should have formed national and state surrogacy boards within three months of enacting the Acts, it is not clear whether such a board is functional in Tamil Nadu, the judge further added.
Similarly, the state government issued a G.O. last year appointing joint directors (Health Services) in districts concerned to enforce the above two Acts and issue a ‘certificate of eligibility’ to couples intending to undergo surrogacy. But the district medical boards, the formation of which is more important, do not appear to have been constituted, the judge noted.
As per the Acts, the district medical board should be headed by the chief medical officer or chief civil surgeon, or joint director of health services of the district and comprise at least two other specialists, namely, the chief gynecologist or obstetrician and chief pediatrician of the district. It has to provide a certificate of medical indication in favour of either or both members of the intending couple or intending woman necessitating gestational surrogacy, the judge added and directed the Assisted Reproductive Technology and Surrogacy Authority of the state health department to take immediate steps to form such boards in all districts in Tamil Nadu.
Information about the district medical boards should be made available at the offices of every medical college hospital and the authorities concerned should be sensitised about the procedures laid down in the above Acts to ensure speedy disposal of the applications, the judge further said.