National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission

Context: A Delhi hospital has been ordered by the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) to pay a fine of ₹1.5 crore for negligence and unethical practices.

• The hospital had mistakenly used donor semen that did not belong to the person during an in vitro fertilization procedure.

Order of NCDRC:

• There is a need to make it mandatory for Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) centres to issue DNA profiling of babies born through ART procedures.
• The commission has conveyed this to the National Medical Council and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• NCDRC has observed that mushrooming of IVF clinics has made unethical practices rampant in India.

About National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC): It is a quasi-judicial commission in India which was set up in 1988 under the Consumer Protection Act of 1986. Head office: New Delhi. Headed by: a sitting or a retired Judge of the Supreme Court of India or a sitting or a retired Chief Justice of High Court. Jurisdiction:- To entertain a complaint valued more than two crore Appellate and Revisional jurisdiction from the orders of State Commissions or the District fora as the case may be. Appeal: Any person aggrieved by an order of NCDRC, may prefer an Appeal against such order to Supreme Court of India within a period of 30 days.

 What does Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) mean?

• ART includes all fertility treatments in which both eggs and embryos are handled.
• In general, ART procedures involve surgically removing eggs from a woman’s ovaries, combining them with sperm in the laboratory, and returning them to the woman’s body.
• This mainly includes In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF), ICSI, cryopreservation of gametes (egg or sperm) or embryos, PGT (Preimplantation Genetic Testing). 
• Through these procedures, many couples with otherwise untreatable infertility have given birth to healthy babies.

Types of ART:

• In Vitro Fertilization (IVF):
  • IVF is a method of assisted reproduction in which the woman’s eggs and man’s sperms are fertilised outside the body in a laboratory dish, which is why it is also called a ‘test tube baby’.
  • One or more of these fertilised eggs (embryos) are then transferred in the woman’s womb, so that they can stick in the uterine lining and grow.
• Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI):
  • This is a special technique that is most useful for male factor infertility where the sperm count or quality is very poor.
  • This mainly involves the same initial steps as for IVF, except that for the process of fertilisation, a special needle is used to inject the sperms inside the egg.
• Cryopreservation of Gametes/Embryos:
  • Cryopreservation or freezing is a technique in which the embryos, eggs and sperms are frozen in liquid nitrogen at -196 degree centigrade for prolonged periods.
  • This is very useful for couples undergoing IVF treatment who have spare embryos left after the embryo transfer.
• Preimplantation Genetic Testing (PGT) 
  • It is an early form of prenatal genetic diagnosis where abnormal embryos are identified.
  • This enables the identification and selection of genetically healthy embryos, thus improving the chances of a healthy pregnancy.
  • This technique is a boon for couples who are either carriers of or suffer from genetic disorders that can be passed to their offspring.

Source: The Hindu, Indian Express