Croatia plans to import gametes to tackle shortage

Croatia has announced plans to import eggs and sperm from the EU, as it does not have enough donors to meet demand.

Croatian law permits the use of donor gametes for married or cohabiting heterosexual couples who have proven infertility, or to avoid the transmission of 'a serious hereditary disease'.

However, since the current 'Law on Medical Insemination' was passed in 2012, no donors have come forward, according to Professor Dinka Pavičić Baldani, president of the Croatian Society of Human Reproduction and Endocrinology.

Professor Baldani suggested that the lack of willingness to donate could be related to the absence of any payment or compensation for donors, as well as the inability to donate anonymously. The law states that children born from treatment using donor gametes have the right to view information about their donor held in a state register once they reach adulthood.

The 2012 law strictly banned the import or export of sperm, eggs or embryos, with the result that families who required treatment with donor gametes have had to travel abroad for treatment, often to North Macedonia or the Czech Republic. According to Večernji List, last year 106 families applied to use donor gametes, of whom 89 were approved.

Now, in a change of policy, the health institutions treating approved couples will be able to order sperm from approved sperm banks in the EU, so that patients can receive treatment within Croatia. The sperm or eggs will have to come from licenced banks that are able to comply with Croatian regulations such as those concerning identity release, and the number of children each donor's gametes can be used for.

The process will be similar to that used for organ transplantation: gametes will be imported by air specifically for each couple, and will not be able to be transferred for use by others. Other limitations will continue to apply, such as the ban on double donation (where donor eggs and donor sperm are used together), or embryo donation, and lack of access for same-sex couples.