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MoH may extend deadline for frozen embryo destruction

DUBAI — The Ministry of Health is contemplating extending the deadline for destruction of frozen embryos at fertility centres on humanitarian grounds.

Fertility centres were last year given a month to destroy the stored embryos after a federal ruling barred them from storing the embryos on religious grounds, fearing mixing of lineage. The deadline was extended by a year and it ends this month. However, officials said that the ministry could extend the deadline even further since some cases were complicated and needed more time. “The deadline ends this month but it is expected that the ministry will extend it further on humanitarian grounds,” said Dr Awatif Al Bahar, Medical Director of the Dubai Gynaecology and Fertility Centre.

“There are a number of women, who, for a number of reasons, have had to keep embryos in storage and they may need them soon,” she said. The centre started the process of storing embryos 18 years ago but stopped in 2008 after the fertility law did not allow for such storage.

A majority of the embryos stored at the centre, however, have already been taken care of. “They have been either collected by the couples or in case if the couples have been unreachable and the embryos are over 10 years old, they have been disposed of,” she said. “Only a few are left with us,” she added. The exact number of the embryos stored around the country remains unknown though it was estimated to be in thousands.

Dr Pankaj Shrivastav, gynaecologist and fertility expert at the Conceive Fertility Centre in Sharjah, said that the process of contacting patients was tedious.

“Some came back after we got in touch but many have not,” he said.

Of the 128 couples who had kept the embryos with Dr Pankaj’s clinic, only 113 could be reached, of whom only 23 opted for having the embryos transferred. “There is approximately a 36 per cent chance of success even if they have the embryos put back in,” said Dr Pankaj. “So if the first attempt is unsuccessful, the couples cannot retry again using this method.” Of those contacted, only five couples gave permission to discard the embryos. “Many haven’t bothered for long, and even now it does not matter to them.”

The frozen embryos are artificially implanted in women who cannot conceive naturally. After transferring fresh embryos conceived through IVF, the remaining are stored and are known to be viable for up to 10 years.

However, the law still gives couples a chance to store a woman’s eggs for future use. The treatment is costlier with a lower success rate.

Dr Amin Al Amiri, assistant undersecretary for Medical Practices and Licensing, told Khaleej Times on Monday that new rulings were expected soon but did not elaborate.

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com