Increasing Participation Rates for Pre-implantation Genetic Screening Pilot Programme

51 Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked 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.

Mr Ong Ye Kung: Under the Pre-implantation Genetic Screening (PGS) pilot, any woman enrolled in an accredited in-vitro fertilisation programme who is 35 years old and above, who has suffered two or more recurrent implantation failures or experienced two or more pregnancy losses, is eligible for the screening test.

Since the last update in February 2024, a total of 605 patients have been enrolled in 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.

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 is not clinically appropriate, taking into account the risks and limitations of the PGS procedure.