Hong Kong fertility clinic allowed to fully resume services after investigation into embryo sample mix-up

Hong Kong's Heal Fertility clinic has received official permission to fully resume its assisted reproductive services after an investigation into an embryo sample mix-up concluded earlier this year. The Department of Health announced on Monday that the fertility clinic can now accept new patients for treatments starting from Tuesday.

The decision comes after the Council on Human Reproductive Technology confirmed that Heal Fertility had implemented all necessary remedial measures following the incident. The council inspected the clinic on September 22 and deemed the clinic had improved its internal sample-handling procedures, staff training, and laboratory management systems.

In July, it was revealed that Heal Fertility had sent incorrect embryo specimens to a genetic diagnosis centre at the Chinese University of Hong Kong while handling two couples' DNA testing cases in May. One case involved six out of seven specimens not belonging to the purported parents, and in another, neither of the two specimens belonged to the parents.

The clinic also violated a practice guideline by not reporting the incident to health authorities within 24 hours of discovery. The Assisted Reproductive Technology Unit at Prince of Wales Hospital was one of the centres affected. The police are currently searching for a Malaysian employee suspected of deliberately mixing up the embryo samples, with the investigation finding intentional unlawful conduct by an individual.