Business Daily (Nairobi)
Mwaura Kimani
14 November 2007
The operations of a Government-appointed task force that was expected to collect views on making test-tube babies technology more accessible and affordable to Kenya's childless couples have stalled.
It has emerged that efforts by the team on Regulatory Framework for Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART) to complete the study were hampered by lack of funds. The development dashes hopes of thousands of infertile couples who were waiting for the findings.
The in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) technology is widely used in the developed world and involves the fertilisation of an ovum in a laboratory and the transplanting of the resulting embryo into the womb.
The team led by Dr Reuben Kamau - appointed by former Health Minister Charity Ngilu in April - started collecting public views in August. It was expected to submit its findings by end of that month.
But according to Samson Wanjala, a University of Nairobi lecturer and a member of the team, the committee could not finish collecting views in all provinces due to financial constraints.
"We had also planned to conduct fact-finding missions in developed countries where the technology is common, but there were no funds," Dr Wanjala told Business Daily.
He, however, reckons that the Health ministry has promised to make the funds available in January.
The development 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 get babies.Widespread use of this technology has, however, been constrained by lack of a legal framework for its application and the cost. The charges have also prevented couples from accessing test-tube technology despite the high level of demand.
"Public turn out was very low so we needed to hold the sittings again for a more inclusive survey," Dr Wanjala says.
Establishment of a legal framework is expected to bring to an end a long-drawn battle between those lobbying for legislation of the test-tube technology and religious leaders opposed to it on ethical and moral grounds.
Kenya welcomed her 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 had paid Sh300,000 each for the operation carried out by Dr Joshua Noreh. In an earlier interview with the Business Daily, Dr Noreh said the number of people seeking the services was overwhelming.
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