Telangana govt mulls bringing law on surrogacy

Congress members G Chinna Reddy, J Geeta Reddy and Padmavati Reddy expressed concern over the infertility centres allegedly running illegally in Hyderabad.

Many poor women are exploited in the process, they said.

"Will the minister take up seriously that this government should be a pioneer in this, lead the way for the rest of the country and bring in an Act, Act for surrogacy," Geeta Reddy said.

The health minister then said that the state government has appointed a committee headed by a retired judge to make suggestions and recommendations on the matter.

"A committee of experts has been appointed under the leadership of Justice Gopal Reddy, a retired judge. The committee has been appointed to give suggestions and advice on this. As per the suggestions of that committee...," he said.

"The Centre introduced the surrogacy bill in Lok Sabha in 2016...we will follow the suggestions made in that we will try to bring an Act, for the first time in India, as said by Geeta Reddy," the minister said.

He said there are 27 fertility centres registered in Hyderabad.

A criminal case was filed against a hospital here for allegedly conducting commercial surrogacy, he said.

The action was initiated against the hospital under Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC&PNDT) Act for performing commercial surrogacy without obtaining the necessary licences, Laxma Reddy said.