25 Nov 2010
O&G Partners and Gleneagles have since complied with new counter-check requirement
THE two other private assisted reproduction (AR) centres that have been flouting the rules were named yesterday by the Ministry of Health (MOH).
They are O&G Partners Fertility Centre and Gleneagles IVF Centre. The latter had told The Straits Times on Tuesday that it had not broken any rules.
Both failed to have a second person to counter-check each step of the transfer of semen specimens.
On Tuesday, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan told Parliament that a check on nine AR centres in Singapore found that two had failed to adhere to ministry guidelines. MOH declined to name them.
The checks came in the wake of a botched in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) procedure at Thomson Fertility Centre. A couple who conceived through the treatment – in which a woman's eggs are fertilised with a man's sperm in a laboratory and replaced in her uterus – found out last month that their baby's DNA does not match the husband's.
The baby's complexion is also markedly different than that of both parents, a Singaporean Chinese woman and her Caucasian permanent resident husband.
Mr Khaw added that all three AR centres in public hospitals – Singapore General Hospital, KK Women's and Children's Hospital and National University Hospital – complied fully with standard operating procedures.
The Straits Times reported yesterday that five of the remaining six centres, including Gleneagles, denied flouting the rules. Gleneagles director Christopher Chen had told the paper that he was not aware the centre had done anything wrong.
But MOH said yesterday: "The ministry would like to highlight that our audits found that Gleneagles IVF Centre did not fully comply with all MOH guidelines as they did not provide a second operator to counter-check each step of the transfer of semen specimens."
Explaining his comments published in The Straits Times, Dr Chen said that the ministry had sent a letter to the centre last week specifying that it must follow new guidelines, such as having two people working on IVF specimens.
"The letter did not say that the centre had broken any rules. It said that we must follow the guidelines stated," said Dr Chen, who added that the centre has accepted the lapse pointed out by MOH.
"As soon as we received the ministry's instructions, the centre complied."
He said it did not implement this measure before because past guidelines did not expressly state that there must be a second operator to double-check procedures. A routine audit of the centre in September found no issues, he added.
Said O&G Partners Fertility Centre's director, Professor Ng Soon Chye, yesterday: "The clinic has always made sure embryologists work in pairs at all times."
However, he said no IVF procedures were carried out in the laboratory on the day of the MOH inspection and the chief embryologist, who would have been fielding questions from the inspection officer, was on medical leave.
He added: "I believe the other embryologists may have misunderstood the inquiries from the ministry."
He agreed with Dr Chen that previous guidelines did not specify a second person must be present when handling specimens. But they alluded to the need to ensure the centres are careful, he said. The centre also passed a routine audit in September.
An MOH spokesman said that both centres were audited on Nov 9 and informed of their shortcomings in writing one week later.
Both clinics informed the ministry of the actions they have taken to address the lapses. MOH has emphasised that the centres have since fully complied with its new guidelines. It will be following up with further visits to both centres.
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Dept of O&G
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