Hyderabad: NRI Maulik Modi, whose daughter and son were born through Intro Vitro Fertilisation at Dr Rama Devi IVF Fertility Clinic, Ameerpet, has alleged that certain Indian Council of Medical Research guidelines were not followed by the clinic during the IVF commission of his children.
The NRI has complained that the parental details mentioned by the clinic in the birth certificates are incorrect owing to which his four-year-old daughter is being denied a passport and he is unable to take her to the US.
“My son was born in June 2004. As per Section 3.5.4 of the ICMR guidelines, the names of the genetic parents are to be included in the birth certificate but this was not done in my son’s case. As per law, the birth certificate is issued by the government authority based on the birth record given by the doctor. The birth record provided for my son was not in compliance with the laws. However, I was able to take my son to the US. But in my daughter’s case, who was born in 2009, the clinic mentioned “anonymous surrogate” as the mother’s name. If two children are born in exactly the same way then legally how can they have different kinds of birth certificates” Maulik Modi asked.
At the time of birth of Maulik Modi’s daughter, the couple’s divorce process was under trial.
“During my daughter’s birth, my ex-spouse never came to India. I was in the US on a green card as an Indian citizen and as per US immigration laws, a father like me can only bring a child born outside the US if the child is born to a ‘US mother’. Neither the egg donor nor the surrogate in India qualified. However, I returned to India to raise my daughter. I got my US citizenship in 2010. Now I cannot get a passport because I became a US citizen in June 2010 and only Indian citizens can apply for Indian passports.
“On the other hand I cannot get my daughter a US passport because at the time of her birth, I was not a US citizen. The result— my daughter is stuck for crimes she did not commit. Whereas my son can only become a US citizen through a ‘genetic link’ meaning despite false documentation, my ex-spouse cannot get him a US passport as per laws.”
“The ICMR guidelines require a contract between the biological parent and the IVF clinic to commission IVF surrogacy for the child. However, the clinic does not have any legal documents constituting a contract from him,” Maulik Modi alleged.
When Dr Rama Devi Infertility Clinic was contacted, Prasad Papolu, Dr Rama Devi’s husband and chairman of the clinic, said Maulik Modi was totally off the track.
“The guidelines of Section 3.5.4 referred to a basic situation wherein a couple has sought surrogacy from a surrogate for consideration, and the surrogate has conceived with the embryo formed by the sperm of the husband and egg of the wife. When the surrogate nurtures such a baby for full term and delivers the child, as per the guidelines, the names of the wife and husband or a couple otherwise, who are also genetic parents in such a situation, are recorded in the birth certificate based on the birth report sent by the hospital where the birth has occurred. The name of the surrogate who has given physiological birth shall not be recorded as mother, though she happens to be the birth mother. Even in the case of Maulik Modi’s daughter, the names of this couple were furnished to the birth registration authority,” he said.
Next: Ignoring ICMR rules rampant
Ignoring ICMR rules rampant
Hyderabad: Several infertility clinics, in the twin cities, are not maintaining documentation of cases and all the equipment used for the commission of IVF babies are not of high quality, not many have a high success rate and many of them are sideline, said experts of the Indian Council of Medical Research Guidelines.
Dr Vijaya Lakshmi, infertility expert said, the commission of an IVF baby is an extremely complicated job as the eggs and sperms are very minuscule, in fact it needs an artistic hand to carry on the process and years of experiences.
High quality equipment like stereo zoom microscope, high power inverted microscope with micro manipulation system , diode laser systems, incubators and pressures clean rooms are needed.
The initial stages of the process take 24 to 48 hours, and the entire process is done through an ultra image guided system. Since the equipment is expensive, many clinics use poor quality equipment.
