Hyderabad: The Indian Council for Medical Research has stated in its guidelines that embryos of couples opting for IVF procedures can be stored for five years. The embryos of these couples can’t be used for other patients. If used, the donor couple must be informed. But these guidelines are hardly followed as was in the case of gynaecologist Dr Namratha who had used the sperm of another couple for the IVF baby.
A senior embryologist said, “There is a lot of grey area as it is often found that donor eggs and sperms are used and only one partner is informed about it. Both have to give consent and it has to be recorded.” Embryo, eggs and sperms are stored in banks for couples to use later for child-bearing. But there have also been cases of these being used illegallywithout consent of the original donors.
