SSM to amend assisted reproduction law

Lei Chin Ion

The director of the Macau Health Bureau (SSM), Lei Chin Ion, announced that the bureau has already started to amend the region’s law and regulations regarding Macau’s assisted reproductive services. However, those services would not be publicly funded.

On the sidelines of the Pediatric Rehabilitation center’s opening ceremony, Lei informed the media that only a few local families seek out artificial conception services in Macau, further disclosing that the majority seeking such services in Macau are mainland residents. “Especially after mainland issued the two-child policy,” said Lei. He added that “Macau’s needs are not substantial.”

The director indicated that there are suspictions that some local clinics are making it easy for customers to obtain these services (see box).

Lei admitted to this situation, explaining that “the technology in Macau is not better than that in Hong Kong or the mainland,” and that people choose Macau when searching for assisted reproduction services because “they saw that Macau’s related laws had some flaws.”

However, as Lei noted, “we are currently using administrative methods to stop it from being abused.”

According to Lei, a few mainland websites claim that there are various options in Macau for people interested in assisted reproductive services.

The local government has requested mainland authorities to block these websites which issue false information, and to release correct information to clarify the situation in Macau. JZ

Clinics under investigation

Last week it surfaced that the SSM is investigating four private clinics on the suspicion that these clinical facilities have been offering assisted reproductive services. The bureau informed in a statement that it was alerted that such services were being made available through the clinics’ webpages and consequently conducted a surprise inspection of seven of these medical facilities. In four of the cases, the presence of devices and medicine used for assisted reproduction was detected.