Medically Assisted Reproduction: CHRACERH Sticks to the Rules
Almost five months after the June 29 law on Medically Assisted Reproduction (MAR) was voted, the Director General of Gynecological Surgery and Reproductive Teaching Hospital, CHRACERH, Prof. Jean Marie Kasia, has said the health facility is scrupulously keeping to rules governing the practice in Cameroon.
He was speaking following the birth of two new babies at CHRACERH through Cesarean Section on November 1, 2022.
“We are obliged to respect the law signed by the Head of State. That is why we wouldn’t perform Invitro fertilization for patients of more than 55 years,” Prof. Jean Marie Kasi told Crtv reporters .
The Medically Assisted Reproduction (MAR) law includes artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, and gamete and embryo transfer.
It permits married and unmarried couples to access MAR.
Chapter three of the this law stipulates that beneficiaries of Medically Assisted Reproduction must be alive and at least 21 years old. It sets the maximum age limit for women at 55, but there is no age limit for men.
Administrative sanctions for defaulters of this law range from suspension to withdrawal of approval, and criminal sanctions range from prison sentences of up to 20 years alongside fines of up to FCFA 20 million.
The new babies born on November 1, bring the total number to babies born at CHRACERH to 354 . Authorities of the health facility say they want to reach the threshold of 500 babies conceived and born through Invitro fertilization by 2024.
CHRACERH was created by a Presidential decree in October 2011.
Kathy Neba Sina
