Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, VK Saxena, on Monday approved the constitution of District Medical Boards (DMBs) under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, for all districts of the national capital, a statement issued from Raj Niwas said.
The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, notified by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, (MoHFW) on December 25, 2021, provides, vide its Section 4 (3) (a) (1), that a District Medical Board (DMB) has to be constituted for the purpose of issuing a certificate of medical indication in favour of either or both members of the intending couple or the intending woman necessitating gestational surrogacy from a District Medical Board.
Section 4(iii) of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, provides that no surrogacy or surrogacy procedure shall be conducted, undertaken, performed, or initiated without the intending couple possessing a certificate issued by the appropriate authority (in this case, the District Medical Board) specifying the need for gestational surrogacy.
“However, the constitution of the DMBs was kept pending by the Delhi Government ever since the regulation was notified by the Central Government, which forced intending beneficiaries to approach the courts,” LG’s statement said.
The constitution of the DMBs in all 11 Districts, as approved by LG, will be constituted of a Chief Medical Officer, Chief Civil Surgeon, or Jt. Director of Health Services of the District as a Chairperson; Chief Gynecologist or Chief Obstetrician of the District as a member; Chief Pediatrician of the District as a member.
“Pending since December 2021, after the Central Legislation was enacted and notified, it took the Metropolitan Magistrate’s court on June 25, 2022, and the High Court on July 11, 2022, to nudge the AAP Government into constituting the board,” confirmed Raj Niwas.
