Business Daily (Nairobi)
Mwaura Kimani
12 August 2007
The journey of making test-tube babies' technology more accessible and affordable to couples who need it starts this morning when a Government-appointed task force holds the first of a series of sittings to collect public views.
Ministry of Health officials said the committee's brief is to come up with guidelines on assisted reproduction technology- setting the stage for its use in select hospitals. The move comes 15 months after public excitement rose to near frenzy with the announcement that a local doctor had used the technology to help two couples have babies.
Widespread use of this technology has, however, been constrained by lack of a legal framework for its application and the amount of money charged to access it.
Dr James Nyikal, the Director of Medical Services, reckons that lack of a legal framework is the reason the test tube baby technology remains above the reach of a majority who need it.
"Beside, in the absence of regulations, this technology is likely to be misused and may even expose consumers to health hazards," he said.
The task force, whose first sitting will be at the Coast Provincial Commissioner's boardroom in Mombasa is however expected to meet formidable opposition from religious groups opposed to the use of technology in the management of human reproduction.
The in- vitro fertilization (IVF) technology is widely used in the developed world and involves the fertilization of a woman's egg in a laboratory and the transplant of the resulting embryo into the womb. The taskforce on Regulatory Framework for Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART) comprises doctors, lawyers, religious leaders and sociologists and is expected to come up with regulations governing not only the doctors who provide the service but also couples who use it.
Kenya welcomed its first test tube babies in May last year with the birth of two babies to two women aged 30 and 35 at a private hospital in Nairobi. The mothers paid Sh300,000 each for the operation carried out by Dr Joshua Noreh. A day after news of the historic deliveries was made public, more 100 couples reportedly queued at the doctor's office for the service, most of whom left disappointed because of inability to raise the fee.
Though some Kenyan women have used IVF treatment in the past, they have had to travel to countries such as South Africa to access it.
Health minister Charity Ngilu appointed the task force, which has been collecting the views of key stakeholders since April and will receive submissions from the public, professionals, religious leaders, elders and members of the public in all provinces.
Statistics show that the number of couples who are unable to have children has been rising steadily over the past two decades to stand at 15 per cent of potential parents.
Establishment of a legal framework is expected to bring to an end a long-drawn battle between those lobbying for legalisation of the test-tube technology and religious leaders opposed to it on ethical and moral grounds. Top among opponents of test tube babies is the Catholic Church, which perceives the procedure as undermining human dignity as it commoditises the act of procreation instead of letting it be subject to God's will.
Other opponents of the test tube technology argue that at 2.7 per cent, Kenya's population growth rate is too high to be enhanced through artificial technology.
The taskforce will among other things look at the possibility of commercialising both male and female embryo and gametes as well as collect views on moral, ethical, religious and legal implications of the procedure.
Dr Samson Wanjala, a University of Nairobi lecturer and gynaecologist at Mater Hospital, said the cost of the ART has prevented most couples from accessing test tube technology despite the high level of demand.
"Injecting donated sperms to the uterus for example costs between Sh20,000 and 30,000 while test tube babies cost more than Sh300,000," said Dr Wanjala, a member of the taskforce.
The team led by Dr Reuben Kamau is also expected to establish a framework for certification of people who are qualified to offer the service, and the optimum number of personnel required countrywide, to ensure efficient provision of such services.
ART is often used to treat infertility caused by damage to or blockage of a woman's fallopian tubes, male infertility, and persistent infertility for which other treatments have not worked.
Other ART services include intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), in which a single sperm is injected into a single egg during IVF, and gamete intrafallopian transfer, an alternative to IVF in which sperm and un-fertilized eggs are surgically placed in a woman's fallopian tubes.
The technology is widely used in Europe and US as the cost of health care is fairly affordable and technology more advanced.
The first test tube baby, Louise Brown was born in Oldham, UK on July 25, 1978 amid much controversy about the morality as well as safety of such a procedure.
USA's first test-tube baby Elizabeth Jordan Carr was born in 1981 and since then the procedure has become widely popularized with than millions of children owing their existence to the procedure.
The task force will hold public hearings in Mombasa, Embu, Kisumu and Nakuru today and in Nairobi at KICC on Wednesday.
Submissions can be made orally or in written form. The team is expected to present its report to Mrs Ngilu on August 31, 2007.
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