Shortage of donations in Chinese sperm banks since the two-child policy

Global Business

Reports that Chinese sperm banks are facing a severe shortages have caused a stir on the Internet. Demand has increased since the two-child policy came into effect.

For ethical reasons, China bans any forms of commercial sperm banks and the country now has 17 public sperm banks in total.

CCTV’s Hu Chao reports from a sperm bank in North China’s Shanxi Province to find out how they work and what problems they face.

Director Song has been working at the Shanxi Provincial Sperm Bank for a decade. It’s a medium-sized public sperm bank, with storage capacity for over 20,000 sperm samples.

Song says they have hundreds of donors every year on average, but only about a hundred of them are accepted after strict testing.

And he says that they need up to 3,000 donors to contribute about 500 qualified samples to meet the increasing demands.

Director Song told us that nearly all the public sperm banks in China lack qualified semen. At present, their sperm bank can only meet the needs of three hospitals. They’ve also rejected cooperation with over ten hospitals due to their lack of semen.

A qualified donor needs to give semen about ten times within three months to complete the whole process. in doing so, they can get a subsidy of about 5,000 yuan ($768.95).

Demographically, most donors are college students who are more open-minded.


Dr.John Zhang on sperm bank market in China

For more on the general perceptions in China about donating sperm, CCTV America’s Rachelle Akuffo spoke to Dr.John Zhang, Medical Director at New Hope Fertility Center.
Follow Rachelle Akuffo on Twitter @RachelleAkuffo