First Surrogate Babies To Be Born In Vietnam This Month

A year after hospitals in Vietnam started implementing surrogacy technologies, the first surrogate babies will be born this month at the Hanoi-based Central Maternity Hospital and the Ho Chi Minh City-based Tu Du Hospital.

Since the technology was made available, qualified hospitals have received more than 100 applications for the procedure, according to Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien.

Three hospitals meet the technical requirements for surrogacy cases, said Tien, who is also chairman of the Vietnam Association of Maternity and Family Planning. In addition to the Central Maternity Hospital and Tu Du Hospital, the Hue-based Central Hospital is also qualified to carry out the procedure.

Of the 60 patients approved by the Central Maternity Hospital, doctors performed 46 cases. The first case was successfully performed, and the fetus is now 33 weeks along.

Tu Du Hospital doctors performed 19 surrogacy cases of the total 33 qualified patients.

Hue Central Hospital doctors have not yet carried out surrogacy procedures due to technical reasons.

For women who are unable to have children naturally, surrogacy gives them the chance to experience motherhood and serves a significant humanitarian function, according to Duong Dang Hue, director of the Civil and Economic Department at the Ministry of Justice.

Vietnam’s Law on Marriage and Family allows close relatives to become surrogate mothers.

Surrogacy is granted only to couples in which the wives, for health reasons, are physically incapable of having children.

Eligible surrogates must be between the ages of 21 and 40 and be physically healthy. They must already have at least one child. If she is married, she must also receive her husband’s approval to take part in the surrogacy case.

While more and more surrogacy babies will soon be born in Vietnam, the number of surrogacy procedures falls short of demand.

A conference held by the National Centre of Reproductive Support in Hanoi over the weekend addressed some noteworthy cases.

Following the Law on Marriage and Family, two cases surfaced in which women’s requests to serve as surrogate mothers were denied based on their previous pregnancies.

One woman previously gave birth to a paralyzed child, and the other woman had an unsuccessful delivery due to complications from a cesarean section surgery.

Despite the complications, conference participants suggested that the women should be allowed to serve as surrogate mothers.

Dinh Thi Thu Thuy from the Department of Legislation said the legal procedures needed for a surrogacy case are complicated.

The ministry is now closely monitoring a surrogacy list via computer data.

A ministry-promulgated circular regulating the birth certificates of surrogate children stipulates that it must be signed by both the surrogate mother and parents who requested the surrogacy procedure. (PNA/VNS) BNB/SSC