Concerned over the declining sex ratio in certain parts of Odisha, the State Advisory Board for implementation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) decided to mount efforts to prevent female foeticide.
A meeting of the board chaired by Health and Family Welfare Minister Damodar Rout decided that PCPNDT centres would be opened in all districts. Currently, four such centres are in operation in as many districts with support from the United Nations Population Fund. With help from the National Rural Health Mission, 10 more centres would be opened, Dr Rout said, adding that all the districts would be covered.
As per the 2001 Census, sex ratio had stood at 953 but fell to 941 in 2011. The situations in the districts like Nayagarh, Angul, Cuttack, Dhenkanal and Ganjam remain the cause of concern. As per the 2011 Census, the sex ratio in Nayagarh was 855:1,000 followed by 877 in Dhenkanal, 889 in Angul, 908 in Ganjam and 914 in Cuttack. However, of late, there has been an improvement due to implementation of PCPNDT Act, the meeting observed.
The meeting was of the view that there is a need for spreading awareness among women against female feoticide. As part of its measures to prevent sex determination which leads to female foeticide, the Government has been cracking down on ultrasound clinics.
In 2012-13, as many as 35 clinics were inspected by Health Department teams and 22 of them were sealed while cases were registered against 13. This year, so far, eight ultrasound clinics have been raided and three sealed. The Government decided to cancel licences of the doctors who are found indulging in sex determination.