In a move that is expected to go a long way in saving the girl child, the Medical Council of India (MCI) is in the process of including a chapter on the issue of declining child sex ratio in the MBBS curriculum for the sensitisation of medical students.
The step follows concerns that since doctors can get involve in sex determination tests in violation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act to make quick money, it is important that they are sensitised about the ethics related to the inappropriate and indiscriminate use of technology with an aim to curb female feoticide.
According to a report, sex selection claims up to 6.3 lakh missing females at birth in India every year while the Government data states that the Child Sex Ratio (CSR) in the age group of 0-6 years has been on rapid decline since 1981 in India, indicating a continued discrimination against the girl child.
In 2001 Census, the child sex ratio stood at 927 girls for every 1000 boys in the country, which dropped to 918 girls by 2011. Apart from social and biased attitude against the girl child in patriarchal society like ours, skewed sex ratio is largely due to misuse of prenatal diagnostic techniques despite stringent laws banning their use for sex selection.
“The MCI after long persuasion from the Health Ministry finally agreed to include a course highlighting the issue of declining child ratio in the country,” according to an official from the Ministry.
The move is likely to achieve its aim as has been indicated by a study in North American Journal of Medical Sciences published last year. The study found that while medical interns who were interviewed about female foeticide had better knowledge of current sex ratio and causes of its decline as compared to other aspects of this issue, their understanding regarding measures to reduce female feticide, PCPNDT Act was not up to the mark.
“The findings underline the need to sensitise tomorrow’s doctors regarding the ethical and medicolegal aspects of PCPNDT Act and avoid unethical and indiscriminate use of the technology in selective fetal sex selection and female feticide. This can be done by conducting regular workshops/continuing medical education sessions and awareness campaigns among nonmedical and medical fraternities,” said the author of the study.