Tamil Nadu: Three Arrested For Illegally Harvesting Eggs From A Minor Girl

Three people were arrested for illegally harvesting eggs from a minor girl in Erode, Tamil Nadu. According to the Minister for Health and Family Welfare of Tamil Nadu, Ma Subramanian, they were detained under the National Security Act.

In June, the Tamil Nadu health ministry received a report that a minor was forced to donate her eggs to a hospital for commercial reasons. The state-appointed enquiry committee was headed by the joint director of medical and rural health services, Dr A Vishwanathan. The team was asked to conduct an inquiry.

In July, the team submitted a report after they visited the hospital, spoke to the doctors, the minor girl, and her family, and found the “agent” that was illegally harvesting eggs. The 16-year-old was taken to the hospital by her parents and the “agents” who forced her to donate her eggs month after month.

The Minister ordered the closure of two branches of the Sudha Hospitals in Erode and Salem, Ram Prasad hospital in Perundurai, and Vijay Hospital in Hosur. The scan centres attached to the hospitals were shut down and the hospitals under the state health insurance schemes were removed from the list.

Cases were filed under Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act and Clinical Establishment Act. The three accused were detained under the National Security Act.

The health department went on an appeal against the stay granted to hospitals that were involved with the minor girl’s eggs being illegally harvested. Health Minister Ma Subramanian said, “The state will not back out from its plan to close down hospitals that violated rules.”

Similar Case About Harvesting Eggs

A hospital in China denied an unmarried woman the right to freeze her eggs. The woman, Teresa Xu took to court and received the judgement that the hospital did not violate her rights by refusing to freeze her eggs three years after she brought the case.

Xu went to a public hospital in 2018 when she was 30 years of age. She asked about freezing her eggs and was informed by the doctor that she could not freeze her egg without a marriage certificate.

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