VISAKHAPATNAM: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission presided over by Gudla Tanuja has directed the doctors of Universal Shrushti Fertility and Research Centre to return ₹15 lakh from a childless couple after the doctors’ failure to perform surrogacy.
The notices were issued, in specific, to doctors P. Namratha and Tirumala and hospital coordinator Bindu. The council also directed the doctors to pay a compensation of ₹1 lakh and ₹10,000 towards legal expenses of the complainant.
Woman member of the commission Dr Rahimunnisa said the couple Illibilli Ugandhar and Illibilli Ekta, married 12 years ago, approached the fertility centre after seeing an advertisement in newspapers.
The doctors, after conducting tests, told them that they have no chance of conceiving children and suggested surrogacy for which they would render service.
It was agreed to pay ₹15 lakhs as services charges to the doctor in the fifth month of the surrogate mother’s pregnancy, the couple said.
The couple paid ₹2 lakh on Sept 19, 2019, and Ekta was subjected to a series of tests that allegedly caused her mental agony. The couple made the final payment on May 20, 2020. But the surrogate mother was not shown to the couple as promised.
The doctors told the couple that the surrogate mother will deliver the baby in August 2020. The couple said they were shocked when they saw in the newspapers that the doctors were arrested by the police for cheating the public.
They asked the doctors to return the money when they came out of the jail. But the doctors replied that they would return the money after the police complaints were withdrawn against them. The couple, then, approached the consumer commission and obtained a favourable order.
