New Delhi: Several doctors' got nabbed for conducting sex determination of fetuses this year, in surprise inspections conducted by Health Department in radiology and genetics clinics, Around 43 radiologists, clinics and 11 machines got sealed for gender-biasedness going on in the city.
It is worth a mention that Delhi is already amongst the 10 worst performing states in the gender ratio. It is already much lower than even the national average of 940:1000 and stood at 895:1000 till 2013.
Since April, in nearly 300 inspections conducted by the Family Welfare department, 96 showcause notices were issued and 38 complaints investigated. Besides cancelling 43 registrations, the Delhi government also filed court cases against five violators. It is now in the process of initiating legal proceedings against another five.
“At several ultrasound clinics, records of the mandatory ‘Form F' — which radiologists have to fill before every ultrasound of a pregnant woman, indicating the number and gender of her previous children and the condition warranting ultrasound — were not being maintained. In most cases, we found these forms were not filled when the first child or even more than one child were girls,” a source said.
The Family Welfare Department has even asked the Government for amendments in Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act in order to bring down sex selective abortions.
According to sources, there are many loopholes in the MTP Act which are misused. “The law says MTPs are permitted if there is proof to establish that pregnancy has occurred despite the use contraception. This is being used as a ground to seek abortions,” an official said.
He also added that existing laws also permits MTPs where continuation of pregnancy causes “grave injury to the mental health of a woman.” “Sometimes, basic records of treatment of mental health disorders, often diagnosed by a general practitioner, are provided as records for MTPs. These records should ideally not be accepted,” the official added.
The entire activity took place when an RTI was filed by Raj Hans Bansal. In its reply Delhi Government accepted that 80,000 abortions had been conducted in last four years in the Government Hospitals.
However, according to Bansal, “This does not show data from private hospitals. Since it is such a high number, the government should investigate how many are done for genuine medical reasons.”
