After years of waiting, the state health ministry is getting ready to amend the long-pending Surrogacy Bill.
After years of waiting, the state health ministry is getting ready to amend the long-pending Surrogacy Bill.
The recommendations regarding the amendments will be submitted at the Budget Session of the state Assembly. Meanwhile, the government has also formed guidelines regarding dialysis, as there are no protocols governing it.
“There are many issues related to surrogacy that need to be monitored properly. Girls are now renting their wombs for money. So, we have been consulting with experts to make amendments in the law. In the next Budget Session, we will submit the recommendations to amend it,” said Dr Deepak Sawant, state health minister.
“As health is in the concurrent list, the state government can form its own Bill though a centralised Bill is pending,” he added.
In 2012, a Bill regarding surrogacy was discussed in the monsoon session of the Maharashtra Assembly. A draft on Maharashtra Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill 2011 on regulation of Assisted Reproductive Techniques (ART) was introduced in the House.
Following the introduction of the Bill, the Maharashtra government had assured it would appoint an expert committee to study issues concerning surrogacy.
As per the Bill, every surrogate mother will have to register at a state government-run Assisted Reproductive Technology clinic for transparency.
Speaking at the inauguration programme of an in vitro fertilisation (IVF) centre at Nowrosjee Wadia Maternity Hospital, Mr Sawant also said as there is no protocol for dialysis, the ministry has also formed guidelines to regulate it with the help of experts.
The facility at Nowrosjee Wadia Maternity Hospital would be the first centre by a public trust hospital in Maharashtra that will offer super-specialty ART treatment to poor patients who cannot afford the costly treatment.
