Couples with Unsuccessful Pregnancy after Three Cycles of Subsidised Assisted Reproductive Technology Treatment

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Health how many couples and what is the percentage of couples who did not have a successful pregnancy after the three cycles of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) treatment that is subsidised by the Government.

Mr Gan Kim Yong: Under the assisted reproductive technology (ART) co-funding scheme, eligible couples can receive up to 75% in co-funding from the Government for ART treatment cycles, for a maximum of three fresh and three frozen ART cycles, until the patient reaches 40 years of age.

MOH's AR database captures information on the number of live-births by individual ART cycles, and thus the success and failure rates at each cycle. Of Government-funded cycles of ART between 2013 and 2015, 75.3% were unsuccessful after the first cycle. This figure increased to 79.3% and 81.9% after the second and third cycles respectively. The likelihood of a successful cycle of ART is higher for those who are younger.

Note Please refer to Annex A for the breakdown by year.