About 1,000 people a year using IVF will benefit from the free medicines that will be entered on the government formulary, and until all these medicines have been entered, a refund will be given to those who have needed them. from 1 January this year onwards.
This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health Chris Fearne at a news conference. The Deputy Prime Minister said that the services related to IVF at Mater Dei Hospital are all free of charge, including consultations, ultrasounds, embryology process, counseling during and after treatment, pick-ups, and embryo transfers. Minister Fearne explained that in private clinics this process costs around € 15,000, while in the case of gamete donation, which after the change of the law this can be done and is also being done in our country, the the cost rises to around € 20,000 for one cycle. To these will be added medicines worth € 500 to € 3,000 and up per IVF cycle.
“We have started the procurement process, which follows local and European rules, but as this process takes a long time, from 1 January 2022 and as long as they are on the government form, we will be we are helping people who use them financially. This will continue to encourage those who wish to have children, “said the Deputy Prime Minister. “I am proud to say that since 2014, when we started offering the IVF service from Mater Dei hospital, 252 babies have been born to date, while 24 women are still in the process of expecting a baby,” said the Deputy Prime Minister. .
Minister Fearne recalled how last year the success rate, the ‘home baby rate’, of IVF in our country was 21.5%, a rate that compares well with that of other centers outside from Malta. The Deputy Prime Minister said that this year at the ART clinic in Mater Dei the pre-pandemic rhythm is being resumed and more than that it is expected that the recovery of the cycles that did not take place will begin. due to the pandemic.
Chief Government Medical Officer Walter Busuttil explained that the medicine refund forms can be obtained from the ART Clinic of Mater Dei Hospital, where the necessary help will be given to obtain these refunds.
