Hyderabad is at the centre of country’s surrogacy trade

Women who agree to be surrogate mothers, are paid just one fourth of the amount the clinics charge.

Single men and women are the driving force behind surrogate pregnancies that have almost become an unscrupulous racket in Hyderabad in the past few years. A raid by Telangana medical and health officials on an infertility center, Sai Kiran Hospitals and Kiran Infertility Centre, on Road No 14, Banjara Hills, in the city on Monday opened the lid on a bigger surrogacy racket. Of the 48 pregnant surrogate mothers who were found during the raid in the two floors of the clinic, at least 15 of them are carrying babies for single men and women.

Hyderabad has become the hub of surrogacy rackets. Fair skinned tribals, other poor local women, and Nepalese women are hired by known, and sometimes unknown parents, for surrogacy that costs from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh per case.

However, the women who agree for surrogacy, are paid just one fourth of the amount along with some tablets and injections. Officials of the medical and health department have found that almost all the surrogate mothers already have their biological children. On a raid at Padmaja Infertility Centre in Bhongir in Yadadri district on Friday and Saturday morning, officials found 25 more surrogate mothers who were promised amounts ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh. The police are questioning Dayakar Reddy, who runs the centre which had conducted around 100 surrogate child births in the past couple of years. There are dozens of registered and unregistered clinics that offer surrogate children and most of the money goes to the middlemen who lure parents, both couples and singles, through classified advertisements and social media messages. Many such clinics are located in small towns like Bhongiri and Kamareddy around Hyderabad.Hyderabad district medical and health officer Dr K. Padmaja, who led the raids on Kiran Infertility Centre, told this newspaper that the clinic had not maintained any record of the persons who had commissioned the surrogacies. “Most of the deals are secretive, and we found that this particular centre has done 400 surrogacies till now,” she said. The “Task Force” cops are probing the links these surrogacy clinics have with other such agencies in Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi. As the cost of living and price of surrogate mothers in Hyderabad are cheaper compared to other metros, these clinics refer their clients to hospitals here. As per the Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill 2016 framed by the Centre, but not yet passed by Parliament, single parents are discouraged to go for surrogate children. Moreover, the clinics which offer surrogate children, too, are required to undergo rigorous registration procedures. As per existing norms, single men and women, and same sex couples are not permitted to go for surrogate children. Married couples who cannot conceive children even after five years after their marriage are allowed to take to surrogacy, but the women must be related to them. Couples with women aged between 23 and 50 years, and men between 26 and 55 years, are allowed to go for surrogacy, but they should certify that they had no biological or adopted children. All the surrogacy medical centres should maintain records with full details of the commissioning parents, surrogate women and their children for a period of 20 years. The norms also stipulate that the surrogate women should be treated well and their medical maintenance during the pregnancy should be borne by the commissioning parents. However, the medi- cal officials here found that all the 48 surrogate mothers were kept in small rooms on the two floors of the hospital. The medical and health officials haven’t found any records either at Kiran Infertility Centre or two more clinics associated with it in and around Hyderabad. “As the existing law is grey in most areas and a proper law is in the making, many people are taking advantage of the flux and these clinics are making a quick buck,” Telangana Health Minister Dr C. Lakshma Reddy told The Sunday Guardian. Hyderabad High Court admitted a PIL on this on Thursday. Officials have indicated that the HC would be provided with a full report on the state of surrogacy in Telangana by the next month. Officials are now shifting the seven- to nine-month pregnant mothers to better places and are planning face-to face interactions with the commissioning parents to decide if they fit the norms.