A brazen illegal surrogacy and assisted reproductive technology (ART) racket operating under the guise of MamaMia Life Solutions Pvt Ltd in Edappally was dismantled by Kochi police on Friday, rescuing five women from West Bengal and a mother with her child from Tamil Nadu, all placed in protective custody amid allegations of exploitation and unlawful confinement. The operation preyed on vulnerable, low-income women in their mid-20s, enticing them via English-language social media ads on platforms like Instagram promising "quick money" of Rs 30,000-40,000 for egg donation or surrogacy, only to pay meagre sums upon arrival and subject them to unauthorised procedures.
The raid stemmed from a complaint by the health department's additional secretary to the Kerala High Court, accusing the clinic of flouting the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, and ART (Regulation) Act, 2021, by luring six women interstate, confining them, and conducting illegal egg retrievals for profit without proper consents or licences. Tower location data and phone records are under cyber cell scrutiny to map the network, with several hospitals now under investigation.
The Kerala High Court, in a September 29 ruling on a related plea from an ART bank, voiced alarm over ART's "deleterious tendencies" infiltrating the state, warning that high demand in low- and middle-income markets fosters corruption despite global innovations in fertility treatments. An inquiry by the Appropriate Authority (AA) under the acts confirmed MamaMia's unlicensed IVF operations, seizure of its ART bank certificate, and absence of mandatory Form 13 consents from oocyte donors, rendering the women's "voluntary" participation implausible—especially given language barriers, as the illiterate recruits spoke only regional dialects.
Show-cause notices have been issued, leading to the clinic's licence cancellation, while surprise inspections at four centres in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, and Alappuzha uncovered minor irregularities now under rectification orders. No public complaints preceded the bust, highlighting enforcement gaps in Kerala's burgeoning fertility sector.
Dr Smithy George, a senior obstetrics and gynaecology consultant at Rajagiri Medical Center in Angamaly, contextualised the scandal as a dark underbelly of surrogacy's noble intent—historically practised in India to aid childless couples but long unregulated, inviting commercial exploitation until the 2021 laws banned paid surrogacy in favour of altruistic arrangements limited to close relatives, with a one-time cap per woman. "Though laws mandate stringent action, enforcement is weak, allowing exploitation to continue," she noted, pointing to how uneducated women from marginalised regions are systematically targeted, eroding trust in ethical clinics. The October 17 court directive mandates permanent display of the acts' provisions in English and Malayalam at all relevant facilities, aiming to empower patients with awareness of rights against coercion.
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This Kochi exposé underscores systemic vulnerabilities in India's ART ecosystem, where an estimated 2,000 surrogacy clinics operate amid rising infertility rates affecting 10-15% of couples, per Indian Council of Medical Research data, yet oversight lags despite national registries. Activists and health experts urge intensified interstate coordination, digital ad monitoring, and victim rehabilitation funds to curb trafficking-like rackets, as rescued women undergo medical and psychological evaluations. With the investigation expanding, authorities vow comprehensive probes to dismantle linked operators, reinforcing that Kerala's progressive image must extend to safeguarding the exploited in its healthcare frontiers.
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