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The following is issued on behalf of the Council on Human Reproductive Technology:
The Investigation Committee (the Committee) of the Council on Human Reproductive Technology (CHRT) at its meeting on July 15 evening decided not to suspend the licence of Victory ART Laboratory Limited (the Centre) as a treatment centre for carrying out reproductive technology procedures and storage of gametes or embryos as the Committee was satisfied with the Centre's remedial measures taken in the wake of a recent incident.
The CHRT secretariat on July 11 received an incident report from the Centre, which is licensed under Cap. 561, concerning the wrong transfer of embryos in the Centre on July 8. Two embryos belonging to a woman were transferred to a wrong woman due to failure of a junior embryologist to check the labelling of the embryos. According to the Centre, the error was immediately found and the Centre took remedial actions including retrieval of the two transferred embryos. Both women were informed of the incident and counselled.
The CHRT initiated investigation immediately. An investigation team conducted field visit to the Centre and reported to the Committee.
The Committee considered it unnecessary to suspend the Centre's licence in accordance with section 29 of Cap. 561 as the error involved was human rather than systematic. Moreover, the Centre has demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Committee that the problem in the checking procedure has been rectified by introducing a double checking mechanism by two personnels on each and every step involved. The staff concerned has been reassigned to other duties.
The performance of this Centre shall be continuously monitored by the Council.
Ends/Saturday, July 16, 2011
Issued at HKT 17:22
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