Four fertility hospitals in Tamil Nadu will face action in connection with the case in which a 16-year-old girl was forced to sell ovarian eggs by her family, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian told media persons on July 14, Thursday. Based on the final report submitted by a team from the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services (DMS), the state government has decided to immediately shut down the four hospitals. Recommendation to take action on two other hospitals, one in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, and the other in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, will also be sent to the respective state governments, he said. A probe in to the case had discovered that gross violations occurred at the six hospitals, namely Sudha Hospital in Erode, Sudha Hospital in Salem, Rama Prasad Hospital in Perundurai, Vijay Hospital in Hosur, Sree Krishna Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, and Mathrutuva Test Tube Baby Centre in Tirupati.
The horrific case of a minor girl in Erode, who was forced by her mother and her mother’s partner to sell her ova (unfertilised eggs), had come to light in June this year. For four years, from the time she was 12 years old, the child had been made to donate her ova using forged documents, including a fake Aadhaar card which claimed that she was a married adult. On June 2, the Erode police arrested three persons — the mother, her partner and her friend who had acted as an agent — in connection with the case. The man who was responsible for forging the Aadhaar card was also arrested the following night.
It was found that over the past four years, the child had been made to donate her ova a staggering eight times to fertility hospitals in Erode and in neighbouring districts. The police had said at the time that for each donation, the mother had been paid Rs 20,000 and her friend received Rs 5,000. It was also reported that the girl had been sexually assaulted by the mother’s partner several times. The case came to light when the relatives of the girl in Salem registered a complaint with the police after she took refuge with them. A case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act had been registered at the time of arrests.
The final report submitted on Thursday by the six-member DMS team, headed by Dr A Viswanathan, revealed multiple violations, the Health Minister said while addressing the media. “The fact that the girl’s actual age is 16 had been deliberately suppressed. We have learnt that the child was forced to donate her ova by her own family. The investigation also shows that despite knowing that the Aadhaar card submitted by the family was fake, the six hospitals misused the document,” he said.
The minister also issued a warning that any fertility hospitals discovered of malpractice will be fined Rs 50 lakh or sentenced to10 years imprisonment under the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021.