The Ministry of Health has just issued Circular No. 11/2026/TT-BYT specifically regulating the list of diseases and syndromes that are allowed to be notified and reveal the fetal gender for diagnosis and treatment of genetic and congenital diseases. This list includes 137 diseases and syndromes according to the international code ICD-10.
The Circular will officially take effect from July 1, 2026 and is built on the basis of the provisions of the Population Law and the new Law on Medical Examination and Treatment.
According to regulations, the determination and announcement of fetal sex is only carried out by specialized techniques serving the purpose of diagnosing genetic diseases with different manifestations between men and women, absolutely not used for the purpose of fetal sex selection.
The Circular clearly states that diseases on the list allowed to reveal fetal gender must meet the condition of having a mechanism directly related to gender and having clinical significance in prenatal and neonatal diagnosis, prognosis or treatment decisions.
The three main groups of diseases specified include:
Gender-related diseases, which are genetic, congenital diseases, disabilities or syndromes related to sex chromosomes or genes that affect the process of gender identification and development;
Gender-linked genetic diseases, due to gene variants located on sex chromosomes;
Diseases related to abnormalities in the number or structure of sex chromosomes, or sexual developmental disorders.
In the list of 137 diseases and syndromes issued with the Circular, there are many typical pathologies such as Turner syndrome with chromosomal abnormalities 45,X; Klinefelter syndrome with chromosomes 47,XXY; Fragile X chromosome syndrome.
There are also many blood and immune diseases such as G6PD deficiency, hereditary hemophilia due to deficiency of factor VIII or IX, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome and severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome (SCID).
Some congenital defects related to the genitals and gender are also on the list such as inaccurate gender identity, pseudo-bisexuality syndrome, 46,XX real bisexuality, low urinary opening defect or antiandrogenic syndrome.
Besides, there are many other genetic and metabolic diseases such as muscular dystrophy, ichthyosis related to X chromosomes, Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, Rett syndrome and congenital defects related to limbs, face or stature.
The Ministry of Health requires medical examination and treatment facilities when performing fetal sex determination techniques in these cases to fully advise people before and after testing on the scope, meaning as well as limits of the technique.
The head of a medical facility will be responsible before the law if there is abuse of notifying or disclosing the sex of the fetus outside the scope of treatment or outside the permitted list.
However, the Ministry of Health also noted that in cases where due to technical limitations, screening methods, no risk factors or new variants appear that prevent the identification of the disease, medical facilities will not be considered professional violations.
According to the Ministry of Health, the list of diseases that are allowed to reveal fetal gender will be periodically reviewed and updated by the Department of Population and proposed for amendment every 2 years to be consistent with professional practices and the development of medicine.
