By Laudia Sawer
Tema, Oct. 19, GNA – Dr Winfred Korletey Baah, Registrar of the Health Facility Regulatory Agency (HeFRA), has announced that the agency is working on specific tools to regulate the services of fertility centres in Ghana.
Dr Baah revealed this during the annual general meeting and scientific conference of the Fertility Society of Ghana (FERSOG) in Tema.
It was on the theme: “Reducing the Burden of Infertility in Ghana: Prevention, Fertility, Awareness and Preservation.”
Dr Baah said: “HeFRA is currently developing specific inspection tools and licences for fertility centres in Ghana. Fertility centres have been licensed under the broad perspective of obstetrics and gynaecology specialist clinics.”
According to him, fertility centres by their nature stood as a unique intersection of medicine, technology and ethics, recognising that uniqueness and therefore the need for specific regulatory tools.
Dr Baah said that had become imperative because the assisted reproductive technology services have become very sophisticated, including organ donation, stressing that “sperm and ovaries are organs; therefore, there is a need to put together special tools to regulate that space.”
He said the upcoming fertility centre licensing and inspection tool would introduce specific regulatory benchmarks that would address, among other things, laboratory and trial storage standards for sperm, eggs and embryos; infection prevention and control protocols suited to ART environments.
He said infection prevention was very key in that environment; as well as data security; ethical governance and consent procedures for fertility preservation; a quality management system that saves patients’ outcomes; and the appointment of clinical staff.
He gave the assurance that in due course, HeFRA would be reaching out to FERSOG and its members to collaborate closely in shaping the regulatory document, as their expertise would give experience while their scientific background would provide insight to ensure that the specific tool would be world class.
Dr Baah called on the members to do more education on infertility, responsible lifestyle, and accessible screening, as the issue of infertility aligned with public health concerns.
Touching on the mandate of HeFRA, he stated that the agency had the mandate under the Health Institutions and Facilities Act, 2011 (Act 829), to ensure that all health facilities, both public and private, met the required standards to provide quality and safe care to the people of Ghana.
GNA
Edited by Lydia Kukua Asamoah