Illegal oocyte sale: Four private hospitals in Tamil Nadu to be sealed

The Tamil Nadu Health Department is set to seal four private hospitals in the state after a 16-year-old girl from Erode was forced to donate oocytes at least four times in five years.

On Friday, the scan centres in the hospitals were sealed after investigations showed the clinics allegedly colluded with the agents and parents of the minor girl in the illegal sale of oocytes. The hospitals under the scanner are Sudha Hospital (Erode and Salem), Ramaprasad Hospital in Perundurai and Vijaya Hospital in Hosur.

It has also emerged that two hospitals in Karnataka and Kerala are also part of the alleged larger racket.

“These hospitals were well aware that the girl was a minor and still, they allowed the girl to donate her oocytes. They concealed the age of the girl and forged in their hospital documents as 24. The hospitals also did not collect the Aadhaar of the girl, knowing that it was a forged one,” said a doctor, who was part of a medical team set up by the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services(DMS) to probe the illegal oocyte sale.

The incident came to light in early June when the girl fled her house and took refuge at her relative’s house. Subsequently, a complaint filed at a police station in Erode district in Tamil Nadu revealed that the girl was forced to donate her oocytes and that she was also sexually assaulted by her mother’s male friend for the same.

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Police had registered a case under Protection of Children and Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act), Section 34 and 35 of The Aadhaar(Targeted) Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies Benefits and Services Act for forging the Aadhaar data and other IPC sections including section 420(Cheating) of Indian Penal Code.

Subsequently, DMS formed a six-member team to probe the matter and the inquiries revealed that the hospitals have operated commercially on oocytes donation, apart from letting the minor girls donate oocytes.

“The hospitals depend on agents who bring in donors in bulk. The agents are paid accordingly, besides the donors. In the 16-year-old girl’s case, all the six hospitals (four in Tamil Nadu, one in Karnataka and one in Kerala) were well aware that the girl was forced into donating the oocytes,” said another doctor who was part of the six-member medical team.

Based on the inquiry reports, the TN health department on Friday (July 15) sealed the scan centres associated with Sudha Hospital, Erode and Salem, Ramaprasad Hospital in Perundurai, Vijaya Hospital in Hosur who were allegedly involved in the illegal operation.

“In 15 days, all the patients will be shifted to other places and the hospitals will also be sealed,” a health department official said.

Speaking to The Federal, Director of Medical and Rural Health Services. A Viswanathan said that there could be more violations.

“Since we focused only on the particular case, we managed to find that the clinics were operating oocyte donation commercially. An in-depth inquiry could shed more light on it,” Viswanathan said.

Speaking to the media, Health Minister M.Subramaniam said that the government would send a report to the neighboring states about the hospitals that commercially operated oocyte donation and take action against them. \

He also said that action would be taken against the private hospital doctors for violations under Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation Act) and Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act under the Tamil Nadu Clinical Establishments Act (TNCEA).