IVF Treatments Resume After Victorian Government Backflip

Despite a forced hiatus on elective procedures in Victoria, IVF treatments are set to resume after a powerful public outcry.

Following advice from chief health officer Brett Sutton, the state government announced on Thursday that treatments could resume from today.

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The backflip comes as Victoria's health officials advise that the specialist nature of staff and equipment used for IVF did not directly impact on the state's pandemic response.

Acting Minister for Health James Merlino apologised for the distress caused from suspending the in vitro fertilisation (IVF) procedures as part of the temporary changes to protect our hospitals

“IVF is a challenging journey for anyone to go through, let alone in the midst of a global pandemic, and we’re deeply sorry for the distress caused by affected services in recent week,” he said.

“We thank Victorians for their patience as we’ve worked through critical workforce issues, and we’ll keep working to have other services restored as soon as we can.”

- Mr Merlino

A range of services will resume today, with hospital procedures to resume from 11.59pm on Tuesday, 25 January.

"The Chief Health Officer provided advice to the Acting Minister for Health that the restrictions on IVF procedures can be removed - as the specialist nature of the workforce and the facilities and equipment used are not imperative to support the pandemic response at this time," a spokesperson for Deputy James Merlino said in a statement.

"While the IVF restrictions were in place, services were still available to those who needed to complete a treatment cycle they had started prior to 6 January 2022 or those who required future IVF procedures due to health treatment that would render their eggs non-viable."

It follows Premier Daniel Andrews on Wednesday offering his understanding for those affected.

“It’s a very, very challenging journey for anyone to go through.”

“It’s made even more difficult in the midst of a global pandemic," he said.

“I’m sorry that these services have been impacted by the global pandemic, I’m sorry that any services across the board have been impacted.

“I want to assure everyone who’s impacted by this, that we’re working as hard as we can to get day procedures back up and running,” Andrews said.

The PM also got onboard and said that the National Cabinet agreed early in the pandemic that IVF treatments were not elective procedures.

“There is no choice involved in fertility treatments,” Mr Morrison said.

“It’s not an elective procedure in my view that should be subject to these things.

“This is a decision of the Victorian government and I appreciate the extreme pressure that their hospital system is under.,” Morrison said.

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