The Health Bureau (SSM) said in a statement on Tuesday that it has ordered the 90-day closure of the Mayo Medical Centre for allegedly providing vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment without a licence.
The bureau said that on Friday its officers inspected the centre, located on the 20th floor of the Fortuna Business Centre (FBC), after a resident reported to the bureau that the medical centre had been “secretly” providing IVF treatment and that “there are victims already”.
The statement said that the centre was granted a licence for providing health and nursing services but the Health Bureau did not allow the centre to provide treatments of assisted reproductive technology (ART).
The bureau said that after the SSM officers had their suspicions about the centre during the inspection, they called the Public Security Police (PSP) for back-up.
According to Macau Post Daily, at the time of the inspection, there were two doctors and two other staff on the premises, and there was a “hidden” door inside a meeting room of the centre that connects to another unit, which does not match the floor plan registered at the Health Bureau, according to the statement.
The statement said that inside the unit, there was “a large amount” of ART equipment, including micromanipulators, biochemical workstations, bio safety cabinets, cell incubators, liquid nitrogen storage tanks, anaesthesia machines, patient monitors, operating beds and surgical instruments.
The statement said that the centre may have breached the rules for ART, adding that out of concern for the public, the bureau immediately sealed 58 types of equipment at the centre and ordered a 90-day shutdown.
The statement also said that the bureau has started an investigation and “does not rule out the possibility” of transferring the case to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) if the centre was found to have provided IVF treatment without a licence.
