Fertility treatment deadline to be extended by two years
Jessica Carpani
THE deadline for fertility treatment is to be extended to help couples affected by coronavirus, a health minister has announced.
People going through fertility treatment will be able to freeze embryos, eggs and sperm for an extra two years due to the pandemic. Ministers do not want patients to be “unfairly caught out” after procedures were paused due to Covid-19.
Current storage limits are 10 years, at which point people must decide if they want to undergo fertility treatment, or have their frozen eggs, sperm and embryos destroyed. These time limits will now be extended to give time for treatments to resume, the Department of Health said.
Lord Bethell of Romford, the health minister, said: “Many people rely on fertility treatment to start a family and the pandemic means some will have to put their hopes on hold.
“We are taking steps to ensure those that have embryos, sperm or eggs stored as part of their treatment are not unfairly caught out by the existing storage limits and have the best opportunity to start their family in the future.”
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) stopped all NHS and private clinics from providing IVF treatment on April 15.
Sally Cheshire, the watchdog’s chairman, said that “probably in the 30 years of our existence, this is the most difficult decision the HFEA has had to take”.
Mrs Cheshire said that the decision
‘Probably in the 30 years of our existence, this is the most difficult decision the HFEA has had to take’
was taken after hospitals were ordered to cancel all non-emergency treatment, and because they were unable to guarantee safe treatment with staff fighting coronavirus. A lot of the equipment in embryology labs is also being used for Covid-19 testing, she said.
At the time, Mrs Cheshire told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the HFEA had been “actively working on an exit strategy to allow treatment to resume once government restrictions on social contact and travel are lifted”.