Mater Dei Hospital has temporarily suspended IVF embryo transfer services due to the recall of a medical device.

Health Minister Chris Fearne told parliament on Monday that the decision was taken in the interest of patient safety after local authorities were alerted that a medical device used in embryo transfer procedures was being recalled.

Fearne was replying to a parliamentary question by PN MP Graziella Galea, who asked the minister why patients at the hospital’s Assisted Reproductive Technology clinic were being told they would have to wait to undergo IVF treatment.

Galea also asked how long it would take for treatment to resume. Fearne did not provide a specific timeframe, saying only that the pause is “temporary”.

IVF, or In Vitro Fertilisation, is a form of fertility treatment in which eggs are fertilised in a lab environment.

Mature eggs are collected from ovaries and then fertilised by sperm. The fertilized egg, or embryo, is then transferred to a uterus.