Second IVF clinic closed

The New Life IVF Clinic has been closed on suspicion of illegal IVF treatments. The obstetric and gynecological clinic, located on the 17th floor of the Bangkok City Tower, was visited by the Department of Health Service Support (DHS) and the police yesterday.

The clinic is associated with the nine babies found a week ago in a condominium in Lat Phrao (Bangkok) and believed to have been fathered by a Japanese. The babies were delivered by surrogate mothers for a fee and were cared for by hired women. The man is suspected of being the biological father of at least XNUMX baby carriers. He is said to have already delivered three abroad, which feeds the suspicion that there is human trafficking.

Another clinic, the All IVF clinic at Siwayathon Tower in Pathumwan, was closed on Friday; the clinic had already been partially evacuated when a raid was carried out. The DHS has filed a complaint against the director. He has violated the Medical Council of Thailand (MCT) regulations regarding surrogacy. It requires surrogate mother and birth parents to be blood relatives. If found guilty, the doctor loses his license.

The surrogacy case led to the adoption of a draft law (Protection of Children Born as a Result of Assisted Reproductive Technologies) from 2004. It was advised by the Council of State in 2009 and approved by the cabinet in 2010. Since then nothing has happened to it. The junta has now approved it, and the recently formed NLA (emergency parliament) will soon be submitting it for consideration and approval.

Medical Council doubts about bill

MCT chairman Somsak Lohlekha doubts whether it is possible with the law in hand to completely ban commercial surrogacy. The law prescribes that the MCT must draw up guidelines for this. The MCT has formed a panel to review the relevant sections of the law that are of concern.

According to Somsak, it is very difficult in practice to only allow women who are related to one of the biological parents to act as surrogate mothers. [A further explanation is missing.]

The Ministry of Health has proposed holding a referendum on the bill, but Wichian Chawalit, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, says it is unnecessary because the bill has been worked on for 10 years and numerous hearings have been held.

Wichian reiterates that the essence of the law is to make technology available to infertile couples. But not everyone who wants to have a baby qualifies for IVF treatment and a surrogate, he says.

The MCT has set up a second committee. He will delve into the Gammy case, the baby with Down syndrome who was allegedly refused by an Australian couple. And that's where it all started.

(Source: Bangkok Post, August 15, 2014)

Previous posts:

Australian couple refuse Down baby from surrogate mother
Gammy's parents: We didn't know he existed
Gammy has a healthy heart, the hospital says
Nine baby carriers found; Japanese would be the father
Ban on commercial surrogacy in the works
Japanese 'father' flees; suspicions of human trafficking
The case of surrogate mothers: The (Japanese) birds have flown
Fine journalism about class justice and surrogacy
Seventeen babies, one daddy
Interpol ignores baby trade warning