Egg donation

The oocyte, oocyte or egg is the female cell that after being fertilized by the sperm gives rise to the embryo.

Each woman has about 400 000 oocytes and throughout her life her body will only make available about 0.1% of these cells for her to be able to get pregnant. All other 99.9% will be lost. 

When a woman is willing to donate oocytes, the treatment to which she is subjected will recruit about ten of these cells that, in a normal cycle, would be lost, maturing just one.

Be an egg donor

Who can donate eggs?

All women who are physically and mentally healthy can be donors as long as they are 18 to 34 years old regardless of having already had children.

Do donors get any economic compensation?

The order No. 3192/2017, of 11 April determines that egg donation is a voluntary, benevolent process, in which the donors receive an economic compensation in the maximum amount of approximately € 800.

How do I become a donor at MekaCenter?

To be a donor at MekaCenter just send an email to geral@meka.pt with the following data:

Name, Contacts, Ethnicity, Height, Weight, Hair Color, Eye Color, Blood Group (if you don't know, will evaluated by us).

How many times can I donate?

A woman can make four donations three months apart.

Will I be able to have children in the future if I donate eggs?

Of course yes.

Each woman is born with around 400,000 eggs and in her lifetime she will only have about 40,000. All the other 360,000 eggs will be lost naturally. Even if you make the four donations provided for in the law, and in each donation you get 10 eggs, in total you are only making available 40 eggs of those 360 000 that would be lost.

What does the anonymity survey, which is now so much talked about, represent?

It represents that people resulting from donor treatment may, when they are 16-18 years old, have knowledge of who the biological father/mother is.

Donor Rights and Duties
  • Recruitment and selection of donors may only be carried out in centers specifically authorized for this purpose; 
  • Mandatory clinical and laboratory screening is the responsibility of recruiting centers; 
  • It is the duty of donors to provide truthfully all the information requested about their health and possible family diseases; 
  • The donation of oocytes is voluntary, of a benevolent nature and not renumbered (although there may be compensation strictly limited to the reimbursement of expenses incurred or losses directly and immediately resulting from the donation);
Legal Information

The Portuguese law determines that the donation of oocytes is a voluntary process of a benevolent character, in which the donors receive an economic compensation destined to the reimbursement of the expenses incurred or of the losses directly and immediately resulting from the donation, under the terms fixed by the National Council of Medically Assisted Procreation, in accordance with the provisions of no. 3 of Article 22 of Law 12/2009, of 26 March and in Dispatch no. 3,192 / 2017 published in the Diário da República, 2nd series - No. 75, 17 April 2017.