An additional 135 applications for IVF treatment are being considered in addition to the 53 couples that have already been approved, according to new figures released by the Health Ministry today.
Minister Konrad Mizzi had said in Parliament this week that only 53 applications had so far been approved for the treatment at Mater Dei, out of a total of 225 applications received since the service started being offered last November.
However, updating the figures the ministry said another 78 applications were awaiting consideration, while just 14 couples who requested the treatment have been rejected because they did not meet the eligibility criteria.
Opposition health spokesman Claudio Grech questioned the basis on which the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Prioritisation Committee had been deciding who was eligible for the treatment in the absence of guidelines.
“The eligibility criteria were only defined this week after the decisions on who can access this treatment were already taken,” Mr Grech told Times of Malta.
Mr Grech raised the question in Parliament after being approached by heterosexual couples who could not understand why they had been refused treatment.
“When these couples applied, they were given an indication that they would be eligible only to be told later their application had been refused,” he said.
“My questions were focused on the need for there to be clear criteria on who is eligible and who is not. These couples are usually anxiously awaiting this reply, so it’s wrong to raise their expectations only for them to then receive a blow. The criteria should have been widely publicised in advance.”
The Embryo Protection Act has been criticised by human rights NGOs as “unashamedly homophobic” on grounds that it specifically restricts the service to heterosexual couples.
The Civil Liberties Ministry confirmed amendments were being considered to bring the law in line with a recent constitutional amendment prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
The government’s assessment, however, will “only be performed with regards to existing rights under Maltese legislation,” the ministry said, confirming that the ban on surrogacy was there to stay.
A spokeswoman said the government would be considering lifting the ban on sperm and egg donation. But this scenario raises new questions on discrimination.
If the idea of changing the IVF law is to eliminate discrimination against infertile women and gay couples to allow them to have biological children, the amendment would not help male gay couples without the possibility of a surrogate mother.