The Health Promotion Administration (HPA) has published guideline that sets the “maximum” fee for ovum or sperm donations.
The Artificial Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) bans ovum or sperm donors from charging a fee, but a “nutrition subsidy” can be given, although the amount has varied widely.
A template of a consent form for such donations was released by the agency last month, setting out the legal requirements for donors.
Sperm donors must be between 20 and 49 years old, while ovum donors must be between 20 and 39, and potential donors must submit to medical examinations and assessment, according to the consent form.
The maximum “price” for a sperm donation is set at NT$8,000 — although the norm is NT$5,000 — while for an ovum donation it is NT$99,000, according to the new form.
HPA statistics showed that between 2011 and last year, 891 sperm donations were made in Taiwan and 2,737 ovum donations.
“The demand [for donations] is higher than the supply at present, and usually the quality of the egg is better if the donor is younger,” said Tseng Chi-jui (曾啟瑞), director of Taipei Medical University’s Center for Reproductive Medicine and Sciences.
The hospital conducts tests to screen for genetic diseases before accepting egg or sperm donations, and if the results indicate a possible negative effect on the potential baby’s health, then the egg or sperm will not be used, he said.
Shih Ching-yi (施靜儀), a senior specialist at the HPA, said the donation consent form template was created after referring to similar forms used by clinics and hospitals.
The government-approved template has been distributed to all medical facilities that perform in vitro fertilization, Shih said.
Since ovum and sperm donors must undergo medical exams and various medical procedures to determine if they are eligible donors, those who receive the ova or sperm can authorize their medical facility to give a subsidy for nutrition to the donor, or to help pay for the exams, medical procedures, loss of working hours or transportation fees.
The normal subsidy for a sperm donor is NT$5,000, but if the donor has visited the hospital more than three times before making the donation, the maximum can be raised to NT$8,000, Shih said.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week
RSS