Prague, June 6 (CTK) – The Czech state has fined the Reprofit reproductive clinic seated in Brno 800,000 crowns for having swapped two women’s embryos within a IVF procedure by mistake, the Seznam Zpravy server reported today.
The FutureLife company, which owns the clinic, may appeal the fine imposed by the State Institution for Medicine Control (SUKL). That is why neither the company nor the SUKL would comment on the issue for now.
FutureLife is pondering on whether to lodge the appeal, the server wrote.
The clinic reported the swap of the embryos in the case of two foreign couples to the SUKL last December.
According to Seznam Zpravy, the mistake was uncovered only after one of the clients reached an advanced stage of pregnancy.
After a series of checks, the SUKL stated in February that the swap was caused by a mistake of an individdual.
The swap was not a mistake in the system and it was the only such case the SUKL inspectors have registered so far, the SUKL stated.
FutureLife’s representative Matej Stejskal told Blesk.cz server previously that a human failure was behind the swap. He said both female clients involved came from EU countries.
FutureLife is a part of the Hartenberg investment fund, which falls under SynBiol, a firm that was formerly owned by ANO movement chairman Andrej Babis.
In February, Babis, who was finance minister at the time, transferred it to a trust fund, together with his other businesses, to comply with a new conflict of interest law.
FutureLife has branches in eight Czech towns and also operates in Slovakia, Ireland and Britain.
($1=23.401 crowns)
