333 couples have applied for IVF treatment since the service was introduced at Mater Dei earlier this year, with 266 currently on the waiting list, Health and Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi said this evening.

Replying to a series of questions by Nationalist MP Claudio Grech, the minister said the criteria for the selection of patients for treatment were the following, as listed in a hospital circular:

"While any couple with fertility problems can avail itself of the services offered by the ART clinic, the IVF procedure, within the Public Health Service, is available only to prospective parents (1) where the woman is aged between 25 and 42 years and the couple has either one of the following:

"a) Identified causes of infertility amenable to treatment by IVF e.g. bilateral tubal occlusion, azoospermia.

"b) Unexplained infertility for 2 years. This includes mild endometriosis or mild male factor infertility2. In all cases where investigations show there is no chance of pregnancy with expectant management and where IVF is the only effective treatment, the couple is to be referred directly for IVF without having to wait for the two year period.

"The maximum age limit of 42 years means that all procedures (egg retrieval, IVF/ICSI and embryo transfer) have to be fully carried out before the woman reaches her 43rd birthday. No IVF/ICSI or embryo transfer can be carried out if the woman has reached her 43rd birthday even if the eggs were retrieved before this date.

"1 The Embryo Protection Act (2012) defines prospective parents as ‘either of two persons of the opposite sex who are united in marriage, or who have attained the age of maturity and are in a stable relationship with each other".
 

The minister said 333 couples had applied for the service so far, of which 10 applications were rejected by the Prioritisation Committee.  Seven applications were rejected because the woman was more than 42 years old, another woman was less than 25 years old and two applications came from single persons.