SHILLONG, Feb 10: The High Court of Meghalaya came down heavily on the Institute of Human Reproduction, Guwahati on Monday for its flip-flop in a case where a woman from Meghalaya wanted to undergo the procedure under the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021.
The woman is just over 50 years but the Act does not allow such procedure on a woman who has passed that age.
“It appears that this woman approached the Institute of Human Reproduction, Guwahati to undergo the procedure. The hospital advised her it was not allowed by the Act but if the Court directed performance, it would do so,” a division bench of Chief Justice Indra Prasanna Mukerji and Justice Wanlura Diengdoh said in an order.
The woman had filed a writ petition in the court challenging the portion of the Act which does not allow a woman aged over 50 years to avail of this procedure and for directions upon the hospital to carry it out.
“By our earlier order, we had asked the hospital to form a medical board to tell us whether this procedure could be carried out safely on the writ petitioner. We had also asked the Union of India and the State to take instructions in the matter,” the court said.
During a previous hearing, the court was told that the institute did not do anything because of some procedural problem that it faced with regard to service of the order.
On Monday, the court was “shocked” to read the institute’s letter dated 5th February, 2025. The letter said, “…the hospital does not have a multispecialty team which is an integral part of the Medical Board which is being requested upon. Kindly note that we are a health facility which specializes in rendering Mother and Child services. Hence, we would suggest that the same may be requested to any Government hospital/Medical College & Hospital/Any Multispecialty Hospital having the adequate facility and expertise.” Taking a serious view of the matter, the court said, “At one point of time, the hospital is telling the patient to get a Court order to enable it to perform the procedure. Now, they turn around and say that they cannot form a medical board. This is tantamount to saying that they cannot even opine whether the procedure is safe or reasonably free from risk for the writ petitioner. This kind of an attitude cannot be tolerated by the Court.”
The court directed the institute to file an affidavit after due consultation with the specialist in this procedure attached to this hospital whether this procedure can be performed on the writ petitioner or not, how safe is the procedure and what are the risks, if any, attached to it.
“If no satisfactory response is received, we shall have to presume that the hospital does not want to take any care of or responsibility towards its patients or its medical professionals simply do not have the competence to carry out the procedure under the said Act. If either of the two is established in public interest, we would have to pass necessary orders restraining this Institute to perform any kind of procedure under the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021,” the court said.
The next hearing has been fixed on February 20, 2025.
