Gynaecologist, PN cry foul at dissolution of Embryo Protection Authority

The Nationalist Party has raised objections to the dissolution of the Embryo Protection Authority by health minister Godfrey Farrugia, who has announced a new board and replaced all former members.

The Embryo Protection Authority was constituted in January 2013 by the previous administration, and was supposed to vet applications by couples seeking IVF, as legislated in parliament the previous year. MPs banned embryo freezing and any form of IVF that does not employ the method of egg freezing.

But Farrugia's decision to dissolve the EPA was motivated by his claim that one of its members, ostensibly gynaecologist Albert Scerri, had a "vested clinic interest".

In a comment, Scerri - who is the brother of Nationalist Party candidate Victor Scerri - told MaltaToday that he had "absolutely no conflict of interest" as a gynaecologist.

Scerri, who works at both Mater Dei and the private St James Hospital, said that he is not trained in carrying out IVF. "As a gynaecologist my job is to refer patients to either a foreign or local IVF provider, and in the case of Malta, it would be either one of two such IVF practitioners," Scerri said.

Scerri also called into question the health minister's impression that the presence of a gynaecologist could raise a conflict of interest. "You need someone on this authority who has the technical knowledge that a family therapist or a psychotherapist does not have, when it comes to the science of embryos. Even our foreign counterparts across Europe have experts of IVF on their regulatory boards."

The new EPA chairman is now former judge Philip Sciberras, already appointed to a commission for the holistic revision of justice and the family commission, as well as the St Vincent de Paule home's management home. Other members are family therapist Simone Attard, paediatrician Patrick Sammut, psychotherapist Mariella Meachen and psychologist Pauline Baldacchino.

The former members consisted of former judge Albert Magri, gynaecologist Albert Scerri, paediatrician Valerie Said Conti, psychologist Clarissa Sammut Scerri, and Daniela Cassar from the Bioethics Consultative Committee.

The decision to dissolve and reappoint the EPA board was met with protest by the PN. "Farrugia thinks there should be no gynaecologists on the EPA but it is absurd that the experience and general know-how of a gynaecologist is not being appreciated and instead deemed as a conflict of interest," it said, referring to Scerri.

The PN also claimed that Farrugia had removed a "bioethics expert" from the EPA, ostensibly lawyer Daniela Cassar, who is reportedly in the process of obtaining her Master's degree in bioethics.

The PN said that even the United Kingdom's HFEA (Human Fertilisation Embryology Authority), included members who were practicing embryologists and IVF experts.

"The minister has accorded himself powers he does not have by dissolving the authority, when the law states that it is only the member with a conflict of interest who should be removed, and not the entire board. Farrugia is not only mistaken in what he considers to be a conflict of interest, but he is also taking the law in his hands and ignoring the clear rules that already exist," the PN said.

The law establishing the EPA states that persons ineligible to be appointed to the regulator are Cabinet members, MPs and election candidates, local councillors, or anyone who has a "financial or other interest in any enterprise or activity which is likely to affect the discharge of his functions as a member of the Authority."

The rules also state that the office of the EPA members will become vacant after five years from appointment, or "if any circumstances arise that, if he were not a member of the Authority, would cause him to be disqualified for appointment as such."

The minister may also remove a member of the EPA if he is considered tobe unfit for office or has become incapable of performing his duties due to infirmity or "for misbehaviour".