Health Minister Chris Fearne announced on social media that another six babies have been born through IVF over the past few days. The Deputy Prime Minister said 425 babies have been born in Malta through IVF so far.

After introducing IVF in the public health sector in 2015, discussions will be taking place in Parliament this year to provide the service for free.

IVF procedures have always been offered for free by the government. Until recently, patients would get a refund voucher for the medicines bought, which can cost up to €3,000. They have now been included in the government formulary. 

Throughout the last electoral campaign, both the government and the opposition had pledged to remove this financial burden from parents’ shoulders.

Malta’s recent in-vitro fertilisation law amendments will allow pre-implantation genetic testing of embryos in cases of serious genetic disorders within families, Health Minister Chris Fearne said last week.

The process of IVF includes medication in order to promote the female body to produce more eggs over a period of around 12 days. After that, eggs are extracted from the female uterus in order to be fertilised. After the eggs are fertilised, the embryos are incubated before being transferred to the womb.

Even with today’s technology, IVF does not provide expecting parents with a 100% guarantee of conception and percentages do go down with factors like age.