Arrests in India over egg donor exploitation

Arrests and official investigations have been prompted by an illegal network in India that seemingly recruits financially vulnerable women as egg donors for profit.

The case apparently came to light when a woman called a health centre claiming she had not received payment for egg donation, leading the police to raid the premises in Badlapur East, Maharashtra, seizing medications and documents. Three women were arrested in connection with the business, which was operating out of a residential apartment and a sonography centre.

'The process involved injecting the women to stimulate egg production and taking them for sonography,' a police spokesperson told the New Indian Express, adding that the donors were paid 25,000-30,000 rupees per cycle (£200-250). 'Once the eggs were ready, the victims were sent to IVF centres where the eggs were surgically extracted and sold for [tens of thousands] of rupees.'

India's Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act 2021 restricts egg donation to one cycle in a lifetime and prohibits commercialisation. Preliminary inquiries suggest that over 40 donors may have been paid to donate illegally, including one instance in which a donor allegedly underwent egg retrieval 33 times.

Maharashtra's health minister, Prakash Abitkar, said that an investigation is being conducted in coordination with the police and warned that strict action will be taken against any official or outsourced agency responsible. 'The State Government maintains a "zero-tolerance policy" in such serious matters,' he added, according to the Hindu.

Police subsequently investigated two hospitals in the region and further arrests were made, including a nurse who, deputy commissioner of police Sachin Gore told Hindustan Times, 'used to conduct scans of the donors without any medical or diagnostic prescriptions from a doctor, which is mandatory. She would then send the videos of the scans to agents based in different states for further analysis and to select recipients of the eggs based on medical parameters such as blood group.'

There have also been calls for wider inspections. Rupali Chakankar, chairperson of the Maharashtra State Women's Commission, has called for raids and checks to be held at sonography centres and other clinics providing IVF services in Badlapur and Thane, adding that 'it is unlikely that this racket is confined to Badlapur alone.'

Police are investigating the possibility of a broader interstate network after mobile phone data suggested that women who donated their eggs may have been relocated to several other cities, including Bengaluru, Telangana and other areas in Maharashtra, for egg retrieval.