Egg Freezing Procedures

NOTICE PAPER NO. 761

NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER

FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 2 OCTOBER 2017

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament 

Miss Cheng Li Hui

MP for Tampines GRC

Question No. 1290 

To ask the Minister for Health (a) over the last three years, how many egg freezing procedures have been carried out at our public and private hospitals respectively; and (b) how prevalent are the risks of the procedure, such as infection and bleeding.

Answer 

1    Egg freezing is currently only allowed either as part of an in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) procedure for married women; or for women diagnosed with medical conditions, such as cancer, for which the treatment may damage or destroy their ovarian functions.

2    At present, MOH monitors the number of IVF cycles carried out, rather than the egg freezing procedures conducted. From 2013 to 2015, an annual average of 2,700 and 1,400 fresh IVF cycles was carried out respectively in public and private assisted reproduction (AR) centres.

3    Based on estimates from licensed centres conducting IVF, complications from over-stimulation of ovaries, which could result in abdominal pain and vomiting in severe cases, occur in less than 1% of cases. Likewise, the risk of infection and bleeding is low, with a prevalence of less than 1%. 2

4    This is consistent with the low prevalence of operative risks conducted overseas. Studies overseas^1,2 indicate that the prevalence of complications from over-stimulation of ovaries ranges from 0.1% to 2%, and that of infection and bleeding at about 1% of cases³.

¹ _{Joint Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada - Canadian Fertility Andrology Society Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee et. al (2011). The diagnosis and management of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. J Obstet Gynaecol Can. 33(11): 1156-62}

² _{Bodri et. al (2008). Complications related to ovarian stimulation and oocyte retrieval in 4052 oocyte donor cycles. Reprod Biomed Online 17(2): 237-43}

³ _{Egg freezing debate gets warm reception (2017). American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Annual Meeting 2017}