ABU DHABI // New regulations should be passed to allow fertilisation centres to freeze embryos, the Minister of Health and Prevention said on Tuesday.
“The ministry affirms the pressing need to issue a new law to keep up with modern medicine,” Abdulrahman Al Owais told the Federal National Council. He was responding to Dubai member Azza bin Suleiman who asked why Federal Law No 11 of 2008 had not been amended to allow fertilisation clinics to freeze embryos. The present law allows clinics to preserve only unfertilised egg cells, forcing fertilised ones to be disposed of.
If the amendment is passed, childless couples could use frozen embryos for future pregnancy attempts.
Mr Al Owais said there were “many obstacles in the law”, which led the Cabinet to issue a decision in 2011 to allow embryos to be frozen under “accurate limits”.
But he said it was necessary to reconsider the federal law, which gives general permission for the process.
Mrs Suleiman said the reply “brings happiness”.
“We can now deliver the good news to childless couples that their dream will come true,” said Mrs Suleiman.
hdajani@thenational.ae
