The government abandoned people with fertility problems and continued to procrastinate on the introduction of a reasonable law on in vitro fertilisation, Alternattiva Demokratika secretary general Ralph Cassar said.

He said the Gozo Hospital recently “bragged” about opening a room offering NaProTechnology, which was “nothing more than a fancy name for the method of taking temperatures to indicate the fertile or infertile period of women”.

While the Gozo hospital was falling apart, the government was wasting time on gimmicks, he said.

The government was dragging its feet over introducing IVF and allowed practices that were resulting in multiple pregnancies against the professional advice of specialists.

“The extreme conservative attitude of (Prime Minister) Lawrence Gonzi and his government ministers contrasts sharply with the image that the (Nationalist) party is trying to project to attract young people,” he said.