PGS Update and Age Criteria

NOTICE PAPER NO. 2868

NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER

FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 6 AUGUST 2024

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang

MP for Nee Soon GRC

Question No. 6208

To ask the Minister for Health (a) whether he can provide an update on the steps taken to increase the participation rates for the pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS) pilot programme; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider reducing the current age criteria for PGS.

Answer

1 Under the PGS pilot, any woman enrolled in an accredited in-vitro fertilisation programme, who is 35 years and above, who has suffered two or more recurrent implantation failures, or experienced two or more pregnancy losses, is eligible for the screening test. 

2 Since the last update in February 2024, a total of 605 patients have been enrolled to the study, among which 199 patients were tested for PGS. The Ministry will need to review the clinical outcomes and safety of the pilot to determine if PGS should become mainstream. In the meantime, we will continue to recruit consenting patients into the study.  

3 Based on research literature, the risk of aneuploidy, which refers to an abnormal number of chromosomes, increases significantly from 35 years onwards. As such, lowering the age limit of 35 years is not clinically appropriate, taking into account the risks and limitations of the PGS procedure.