Dr. Evelyn Nabunya, Executive Director, Mulago Women’s and Neonatal Specialized Hospital rejected the proposal to have the fertility services supervised by the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners’ Council, but rather proposed to have a separate body do it.
''If Parliament was to retain the Medical Council as the supervisors of fertility services in Uganda'', then she called for creation of a separate Committee with the Uganda Medical and Deental Practitioners' Council to oversee fertility treatment services.
Robert Busingye, Senior Consultant, Obstetrician and Gynecologist at Mulago Specialized Women’s and Neonatal Hospital also asked Parliament not to do away with commercial surrogacy, but cautioned for the need to define what ‘reasonable compensation’ will be to the mothers, given the negative conditions they have to live with during and after pregnancy.
He said, “Surrogacy is such a big thing, there are a lot of ramifications in surrogacy. The question is, if I am going to be compensated reasonably, the question is, what is reasonable? A surrogate is going to go hospital, carry the pregnancy, vomit, maybe even have a caesarean section, have high blood pressure, she needs to be reasonably compensated, where do you put the line between reasonable compensation and someone is doing it purely for the money?”He asked.
Jackie Guma, Legal Officer attached to Parliament’s Health Committee has backed the proposal barring Assisted Reproductive Technology services (ARTs) or fertility services to single people, saying such a move would open the law, allowing homosexuals to also access these services in Uganda.
She made the remarks during a meeting held by the Health Committee alongside officials from Mulago Women’s and Neonatal Specialized Hospital, to consider The Human Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill,2023 that was tabled by Sarah Opendi (Tororo District Woman Representative) seeking to regulate fertility clinic and use of Assisted Reproductive Technology services.
