A total of 266 couples are waiting to undergo IVF within the public health service, according to information given in Parliament last night.

Answering a series of questions on the subject by Opposition health spokesman Claudio Grech, Health Minister Konrad Mizzi said that, since the start of the service, 333 applications had been submitted.

Of these, 10 had been refused by the ART (assisted reproductive technology) prioritisation committee: seven couples because the woman was over 42 while another was refused because the mother was under 25. The other two were filed by single persons.

Guidelines do not stipulate clear criteria on which couples to choose

Mr Grech said the protocol and guidelines issued by the Embryo Protection Authority do not stipulate clear criteria on which couples to choose.

Quoting from a Department of Health circular, Dr Mizzi said that, while any couple with fertility problems could avail itself of the services offered by the ART clinic, the IVF procedure within the public health service, was available only to prospective parents where the woman was aged between 25 and 42 and the couple has either identified causes of infertility amenable to treatment by IVF or unexplained infertility for two years. The maximum age limit of 42 meant that all procedures had to be fully carried out before the woman reached her 43rd birthday.

No IVF/ICSI or embryo transfer could be carried out if the woman has reached her 43rd birthday even if the eggs were retrieved before this date. The Embryo Protection Act (2012) defined 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”.