African Woman and Child Feature Service

Efforts to develop a policy framework to regulate the provision and practice of the In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) services and other assisted reproduction technologies in the country have stalled due to serious financial problems.

A technical IVF Task Force formed in 2007 to develop the policies has been unable to wrap up its work after the government failed to release money for the completion of the remaining phases.

The Task force is made up of officials from the Ministry of Health, Medical Practitioners and Dentist Board, Faith Based Institutions, Research Institution, Universities, and the Attorney General Office.

Sources within the Ministry of Medical Services said the task force problems started when the Ministry of Health was split into Ministry of Medical Services and that of Public Health and Sanitation.

The government staff in the task force and who were crucial in pushing for the release of funds for the task force found themselves in the Ministry of Public Health.

Yet the unit in-charge of the standards and development of such guidelines is in the Ministry of Medical Services.

“It has been very difficult for these officers in another ministry to influence decision in different ministry, hence stalling the work,” says a source in the Ministry of Medical Services who cannot be named because he is not authorised to speak to the press.

Some of the pending work for the task force includes conducting more public hearings across the country and drafting the guidelines. It is estimated that the remaining phases will cost not less than Sh 15 millions.

Task force work has also been slowed by poor attendance of the members who have complained of not getting sitting allowance to compensate them for their time and knowledge in driving this process.

Insiders are optimistic that the process can be completed before mid next year if funding is unlocked now. Their optimism is based on the fact that much of the task force work has been done.

Public hearing have happened in at least in three districts, and the team has visited South Africa and India to learn about their IVF guidelines and legal framework. Desktop research has been done, with site visits to IVF clinics in the country being accomplished as well.

The only hiccup has been poor attendance at public hearings mainly because IVF is a technical area not well understood by the ordinary Kenyan and even some of the medical professionals.

As a result, either the quality of the debate maybe compromised or submissions will largely come from the medical fraternity, particularly from those already running IVF clinics.

Nevertheless, the three public hearing so far have managed to bring out some of the key issues Kenyan want addressed. Many of the concerns are around the cost of the IVF treatment, and handling of the embryos not transferred in the woman’s uterus.

Majority of the participants at these forums recommended the establishment of IVF clinics in government hospitals in order to make them cost-effective and accessible to infertile poor Kenyans.

Currently, the cost of IVF treatment in private clinics is between Sh 250,000 and Sh 300,000. Fertility experts say this might come down to less than Sh 50,000 if offered by the government. The expected policy is supposed to address these issues.

For now, without such a policy framework, operations at the five IVF clinics operating in the country is guided by general medical code of conduct and regulations as well as IVF guidelines in use in Britain or by other countries in the commonwealth league, to which Kenya is a member.