Healing Reproductive Medicine Center suspected of mixing up embryo samples

The Chairman of the Human Reproductive Technology Administration, Leung Hin-sun, said that the Shei Yu Reproductive Medicine Centre had a suspected mix-up involving embryo samples. During the check-up process for artificial insemination, the centre sent the embryo samples to the Chinese University laboratory for genetic testing. It was found that the samples extracted from the embryos were suspected to have been confused and were not from the original parents. The incident involves two cases. The Administration considers the situation serious and has reported it to the police for handling.

The Administration said that after it received a report from the Chinese University laboratory last month, it conducted an on-site inspection of the centre. After meeting with the doctors involved, it believed there were no procedural errors and that the medical records were fine. It was possible that, during the process of submitting the samples for testing, samples that did not belong to the parents were inserted. After checks, the possibility of embryo mix-up was ruled out, pending further investigation into whether human factors were involved. The purpose of the testing is to extract embryo samples, select normal and healthy embryos, and place them into the mother. If the testing were to be mixed up, there is a risk that abnormal embryos could be placed into the mother.

The Department of Health said that the centre did not report the incident within 24 hours. The department has issued a regulatory notice requiring the centre to submit an investigation report within four weeks, explaining the cause of the incident and the improvement measures, and requiring it to suspend receiving new cases. The authorities have suspended 14 items of services at the centre. The centre is responsible for referring the cases to other centres for follow-up.