Eight Australian families and 14 children born from Thai surrogate mothers are in Bangkok waiting for legal procedures to be completed before they can leave the country, a senior diplomatic source told the <i>Bangkok Post</i> Wednesday.
Officials led by director-general Boonruang Trairuangworawat of the Department of Health Service Support "inspected" the SFC Fertility Clinic in a raid Wednesday on Amarin Tower in Pathumwan district. The clinic was found to be operating legally, providing assisted reproductive technology and surrogacy services. (Photo by Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)
Of the eight, five families with nine babies have obtained citizenship papers for their nine children and are waiting for their passports.
Three other families with five children are in the process of obtaining citizenship papers and passports, the diplomatic source said.
- Yes, they're his: Japanese man's DNA matches 15 babies
All families, the source said, are in a similar situation to that of Adam and Kate Osborne, an Australian couple from New South Wales, who travelled to Thailand in July for the birth of their twins.
According to the Daily Telegraph in Australia, the twins, named Sierra Leone and Mali, were born on July 22 to a Thai surrogate mother.
The Osbornes have completed their documentation with the Australian embassy but require a court order that would allow them to take the babies out of the country.
Efforts are under way to raise funds for the Osbornes thorough a crowdfunding webpage, where AS$4,000 (119,000 baht) had been raised by Wednesday night. The Osbornes say they are fearful they will be unable to leave because of the surrogacy row.
The "Nong Gammy case", whose Australian father was a convicted paedophile, and the discovery of nine babies in a Bangkok condo believed to have been fathered by a Japanese businessman, have ignited public and media attention about commercial surrogacy and possible human trafficking.
A draft surrogacy law has been proposed by the National Council for Peace and Order pending approval by the National Legislative Assembly.
Australian couples who want to take babies born from Thai surrogate mothers out of Thailand need to obtain citizenship papers and passports for their children from the Australian embassy in Bangkok.
Citizenship papers are issued if it can be proven the babies are Australian by descent. This means the baby must be a blood relative of one of the parents. This is done through DNA testing. Once this is done and approved, couples can apply for Australian passports for the babies.
The couples still have to wait for approval from the Family and Juvenile Court before they and their babies can leave Thailand.
Last week, Australian ambassador James Wise asked Thai authorities to consider a “transitional arrangement” to assist 200 Australian couples who have an estimated 150 babies from surrogate Thai mothers still in the country.
The proposal was raised with the Foreign Affairs, Justice, and Social Development and Human Security ministries. “Thai authorities are seeing what they can do to expedite the court approval process,” the diplomatic source said.
Meanwhile, results of DNA tests show the sample claimed to belong to Japanese businessman Mitsutoki Shigeta matches those of 12 babies, including the nine babies found at the Lat Phrao condominium, according to assistant national police chief Korkiat Wongwarachart.
The Japanese man is reported to have fathered 15 babies born to Thai surrogate mothers. Three have reportedly been taken out of the country.
Mr Shigeta, 24, earlier authorised his lawyer to hand over a sample of his DNA to authorities. But police refused to use it as evidence since it did not go through the required verification process.
Police said they are still unsure whether the DNA sample belongs to Mr Shigeta. Pol Lt Gen Korkiat expressed confidence that Mr Shigeta would travel to Thailand to give information to police.
Meanwhile, the owner and executive of Bangkok IVF Centre, an infertility treatment clinic, has denied any involvement in the surrogacy scandal.
Viwat Chinpilas, owner of Bangkok IVF Centre in Lat Phrao district, said Wednesday his clinic has provided infertility treatment for three years to couples who have experienced problems in conceiving but it has not been involved in the surrogacy cases of the 15 babies said to have been fathered by Mr Shigeta.
The Department of Health Service Support (HSS) raided Bangkok IVF Centre on Monday and ordered it to shut down its reproductive technology services section which allegedly broke regulations.
Dr Viwat insisted his clinic was registered legally, but admitted it was at fault for providing reproductive technology services without the required registration from the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
He said the Bangkok IVF Centre had no connection to the All IVF clinic, operated by Dr Pisit Tantiwattanakul.
All IVF is accused of providing surrogacy services to Mr Shigeta. Dr Pisit has been summoned to meet police Friday.
On Wednesday, the HSS inspected the SFC Fertility clinic on the 17th floor of Amarin Tower in the Pathumwan area. Dr Boonruang said the clinic, which has operated for four to five years, was registered legally. It provided assisted reproductive technology services.
However, the clinic also provided surrogacy services. About 1,000 people have sought treatment from the clinic annually and 3% of them or 30 received surrogacy services. Most were foreign couples.
The HSS would not order the closure of the clinic as it was legally registered. But the clinic was found in violation of the Sanatorium Act for failing to control the use of assisted reproductive technology.