Two IVF applications turned down as applicants were single

Two applications submitted for in-vitro fertilization treatments were turned down due to the applicants’ status being single, Health Minister Konrad Mizzi informed parliament.

In reply to a series of questions raised by PN MP Claudio Grech, Mizzi said that a total of 333 applications were submitted, 10 of which were refused by the ART Prioritisation Committee.

Seven of the couples were refused on the basis that the women were aged over 42 while another couple’s request was turned down because the woman was younger than 25.

“Two applications were filed by single persons,” Mizzi told Parliament.

Currently there are 266 couples awaiting IVF services.

According to the IVF procedure within the Public Health Service, IVF services are only available to prospective parents where the woman is aged between 25 and 42 years.

The Embryo Protection Act (2012) defines 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’.