Medical Visas Now Required for Surrogacy Programme in India

29.04.2013

Medical visas and not tourist visas are to be issued to foreign nationals who are expecting or have had a child through a surrogate mother in India. These will be issued only after furnishing the certificates from respective surrogacy clinics, the Union Health Ministry said in a press statement Tuesday.

Gujarat is considered to be the main hub for surrogacy in the country although, as Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury was quoted in the statement, "There is no surrogacy law in the country."

"The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued two notifications... The Ministry of External Affairs has been requested to issue the medical visa instead of tourist visa to the foreign nationals visiting India for commissioning surrogacy...," the ministry statement said.

However, practitioners in the state have mixed responses to the new rules.

"There was one case recently where a couple came from abroad and the surrogate contracted malaria. We could not proceed with the process because of the unforeseen illness, and a new contract had to be drawn up. This led to a substantial delay," said Anand-based Dr Nayna Patel.

However, she said furnishing the contract towards the end of the process when the baby is delivered or soon to be delivered does not pose much of a problem.

There was an interesting case in 2009, when a German couple faced problems taking back their twins born of a Gujarati surrogate mother in Anand, because their country did not recognise surrogacy leading to a long legal battle that went up to the Supreme Court.

Ahmedabad-based Dr Manish Banker said the new process "makes it simpler and clearer" and would make surrogacy processes "more transparent" since detailed information has to be furnished by the clinic. In the past, contracts between the parents and the surrogate were largely confidential.

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