New Delhi, Feb 20 (IANS): Delhi Lt. Governor V.K. Saxena has approved the constitution of District Medical Boards (DMBs) under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 for 11 districts of Delhi.

The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, notified by the Union Health Ministry, provides vide its Section 4 (3)(a)(1), that "a District Medical Board has to be constituted for the purpose of issuing a certificate of medical indication in favour of either or both members of the intending couple or intending woman necessitating gestational surrogacy from a District Medical Board".

The section 4(iii) of Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 provides that no surrogacy or surrogacy procedure shall be conducted, undertaken, performed or initiated without the intending couple possessing a certificate issued by the appropriate authority (in this case District Medical Board) specifying the need for gestational surrogacy.

The District Medical Boards in all 11 Districts will have Chief Medical Officer / Jt. Director of Health Services of the District as the Chairperson, Chief Gynecologist / Chief Obstetrician of the District as Member and Chief Pediatrician of the district as Member.

"Pending since December 2021, after the central legislation was enacted and notified, it took the court of Metropolitan Magistrate on June 25, 2022 and the High Court on July 11, 2022 to nudge the AAP government into constituting the Board.

"A proposal to this effect, approved by the Deputy Chief Minister in his capacity as Health Minister and endorsed by the Chief Minister has finally been approved by the Lt. Governor," said the L-G office in a statement.