Health Ministry seeks legislation on surrogacy
The Ministry of Health is in the process of getting a legislation to back the practice of surrogacy in the country. According to the sector minister, Mr Alex Segbefia, there is currently no regulation regarding the childbirth arrangement in the country, making the practice illegal and dangerous for women who volunteer to be part of the process.
Advertisement
“Looking at surrogacy, we are having certain difficulties with the lack of legislation covering that area hence the abuse. So as a ministry, we will be looking at it closely to be able to get some form of legislation to cover it”.
Additionally, he said if it was not immediately regulated, there would be difficulties for a lot of women and children who are to be born through the process.
Mr Segbefia made this known during the first national executive meeting of the National Association of Registered Midwives for the year in Accra.
The meeting, which was held on the theme, “Enhancing Maternal and Child Health Care for Sustainable Development; Midwives Making a Difference in Ghana,” was intended to discuss issues regarding midwifery practice in Ghana and deliberate on efforts to resolve such issues.
Also in attendance were the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyira, and other members of the association.
Surrogacy in Ghana
Surrogacy is the practice by which a woman (called a surrogate mother) becomes pregnant and gives birth to a baby in order to give it to someone who cannot have children due to biological mishaps.
Though current surrogacy statistics are not clear, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine puts the number of surrogate births per year in the hundreds, during which the woman carries fertilised embryos of expectant couples and delivers babies for them.
Other Trending Stories
It is however, not clear when the practice started in Ghana but in December 2015, it was reported that a surrogate mother carrying quadruplets was cheated of her incentives after an agreement she made with the fertility centre which “employed” her.
She was promised GH¢10,000 for the child she was to bear for the unknown client and a monthly stipend of GH¢400 as well as a rented room for herself and her three-year-old son.
However, after fulfilling her end of the bargain, the promised rented apartment was never provided and the agreed upon stipend was insufficient to cater for her needs.
More midwives needed
Aside from the issue of surrogacy, Mr Segbefia said the ministry had noticed with great concern, the need for more experienced midwives, considering the fact that within a few years, many of them would retire.
Therefore, he said, the ministry would not hesitate to give contracts to midwives who had reached the retirement age but were still fit enough to work, based on the geographical location, that so they could work for some time and also nurture the young midwives.
Additionally, he said the ministry was also working on increasing the number of midwifery training schools in the country to meet the growing population, increase in childbirth and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Mr Segbefia also urged the executive body of the association to use the meeting to share their various views on the use of the squatting bench or the sitting chair during delivery saying, “I know there is a debate on them but it will be good to get some feedback from those of you who would be required to use them”.
We are committed
For her part, the President of the National Association of Registered Midwives in Ghana, Mrs Ridhwana Hawa Amoako-Adlei, said it was committed to actively raising the quality of maternal and child health care in the country through effective midwifery practices.
In order to achieve this, she said the association would continue to provide step-by-step support to all its members, regardless of where they worked and their educational level, to enable them to achieve their full potential.
Additionally, she said, there were enormous challenges facing the midwifery profession in Ghana. These include the shortage of midwives in hospitals, which in turn increased the workload of midwives and affected the quality of practice, and mentioned inadequate midwifery educators to improve the capacities of the midwifery colleges, lack of clearly defined career progression, among others, as some of the challenges.