Dr Kamthorn Pruksan-anonda, chief of reproductive biology and infertility at Chulalongkorn Hospital, where Thailand's first test-tube baby was born, said the country had lagged behind due to a lack of support after becoming was one of the first Asian countries to successfully get a woman pregnant using the technology.

"Our first test-tube baby was born seven months before China could deliver its first test-tube baby, but now China's medical science and biotechnology is much more advanced than ours," he said at at event to mark the anniversary at Chulalongkorn Hospital.

Kamthorn said the birth of test-tube babies in each country was recognised by the world as the benchmark of modernity in biotechnology.

"The celebration of the 20th anniversary of test-tube babies is significant because it shows the world that 20 years ago we were not lagging behind in terms of assisted reproductive technology," said Kamthorn.

Unfortunately, the country did not have any policy to promote the use and research of this, he said.

Thailand's first test-tube baby, Pavornvitch Srisahaburi, was born in August 1987, nine years after the world's first test-tube baby was born in England in 1978.

Kamthorn said Thailand's medical scientists talked proudly of its assisted reproductive technology, but were silent when it came to the current state of affairs.

"For the international community, the money spent on the technology does matter. Other countries are talking about a billion US dollars, but we are talking about several hundred thousand baht. Who would want to collaborate with us?" he said.

He hoped Thailand would follow the example of Europe, Taiwan and South Korea, which considered artificial reproductive technology a basic medical service to be provided to infertile couples and  included it in their national health systems

This will promote more advanced technologies such as cloning, stem-cell and human genome research, of which artificial reproductive technology is the genesis.

"Criteria can be set that only families who really have problems with fertility and need a baby to fulfil their family lives could receive the service under government schemes," he said.

Currently, artificial reproductive treatment costs about Bt80,000 at state-run hospitals and about Bt200,000 at private ones.

Though the exact number is not available, Kamthorn believes there are several thousand of test-tube children in Thailand. This is a very small number when compared with the US, which had its first test-tube baby five years before Thailand. In 2003, there were 35,000 American children born through assisted reproductive technology.

Promoting the technology will help the country develop doctors and experts in the field, Kamthorn said.

Although the technology has been around for two decades just 100 gynaecologists registered with the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology use it.

Kamthorn sees nothing ethically wrong with the technology. The world has moved along since the first test-tube babies to where today surrogate mothers carry foetuses to term.

"The controversy has moved to cloning and stem-cell technology," he said. Chulalongkorn Dr Pramuan Viruntamasen - who brought the country's first test-tube baby into the world - was worried about the legal system controlling artificial reproductive technology. He wants a law to control the technology. Justice Ministry permanent secretary Charan Pakdithanakul supports him.

He said the law should focus on the moral aspects and rights of the people using the technology.

Pennapa Hongthong

Phudit Mooksombud

The Nation