Serbian couples, undergoing infertility treatments, will no longer have to travel to foreign clinics to receive donated reproductive cells and pay thousands of euros for that.
From now on, this procedure will also be possible in Serbia; the sperm and oocytes will come from the reproductive materials bank in Spain, with which the Serbian Ministry of Health signed a contract at the beginning of August. The cost of acquiring the sperm or the egg cells will have to be borne by the couples themselves, while the entire procedure (of using the oocytes or sperm) will be free of charge, i.e. it will be financed by the State Health Insurance Fund (RFZO).
One in six couples in Serbia is treated for infertility and, according to unofficial data, around 500 couples go to foreign clinics every year, where they pay a minimum of EUR 5,000 for the donation of reproductive cells, which for many couples is the only way to become parents. In people who have no reproductive cells, which is mainly due to a disease, egg or sperm donation is medically indicated.
However, even those who have tried several times to have a child through in vitro fertilisation with their own cells, and failed, will receive a recommendation from a gynaecologist for a donation, especially if they are women over 40 years of age.
“51 couples requested the acquisition of the sperm and oocytes from abroad, of which 32 couples needed egg cells and 19 needed sperm cells. All of them will have the opportunity to choose one of 19 hospitals in Serbia, where, at the expense of the state, they will try to become parents,” Predrag Sazdanović, State Secretary at the Ministry of Health, said recently.
Couples will pay costs related to the acquisition of reproductive cells, but the procedure of implanting these cells will be free of charge, more precisely, health insurance will cover it.
“Negotiations are currently underway and meetings are planned with infertility clinics. The Ministry has to consult with each clinic, create contracts and regulations, and agree on whether the cells will be stored in the only state-run reproductive cells bank (in the GAK maternity hospital in Belgrade) or in private clinics, which also have this option. Every detail is prepared prior to the arrival of the cells, and it must be known whether they will first go to the bank or directly to the clinic,’ Marijana Arizanović of the Šansa za Roditeljstvo Association says.
(Nova, 02.09.2022)
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