Natalie joined BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour this morning to talk about the BBC story of the scandal involving egg and sperm donation treatments in Northern Cyprus. Thirty families have now come forward to say they were given wrong information about the egg and sperm donors involved in their treatment, and the growing numbers suggest negligence or deception rather than error, reports the BBC. The scandal focuses on a small number of clinicans in in Northern Cyprus including the Dogus Fertility Clinic, Dr Sevket Alpturk and Dr Firdevs Uguz Tip who now works at Miracle IVF.
Donor-conceived people are at the heart of this. Those affected and their parents were given information which was wrong, and the truth about who their donors really are – along with their medical histories, genetic traits, personal characteristics and the possibility of future contact – has been taken away from them. The disregard shown by the clinicians involved in this scandal for the welfare of the children they helped conceive is shocking.
As Natalie explained to Woman’s Hour, UK fertility clinics are closely licensed, regulated and inspected, but in Northern Cyprus (a territory only recognised by Turkey and not part of the EU) there are no similar protections. Prospective parents may not realise, when comparing clinics online, quite how different the underpinning legal frameworks are. Anyone considering going overseas should take enormous care. Natalie further comments:
“If we stand by our regulatory system at home for the protection of all, we also need to ensure it is accessible to everyone. And that means funding it properly. Prospective parents are looking overseas because the NHS has not implemented even the NICE guidelines for funding of IVF cycles, and many have no other choice given the rising costs of private IVF in the UK.”
You can listen to Woman’s Hour here: BBC Radio 4 – Woman’s Hour, 18/08/2026
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