Health Minister Ramchandra Chandravanshi on Tuesday asked the State Observation Board of Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) to strictly monitor all ultrasound clinics across the State and also spread awareness about the law through various mediums.
Addressing the board in Ranchi, Chandravanshi said that all private clinics caught testing the sex of fetuses should be punished under the legal provisions. “Monitor all the private clinics and take strict actions against any clinic found guilty of testing the sex of fetuses through ultrasound,” he said.
The PCPNDT Act was passed in 1994 by the Parliament of India to stop female feticide and tighten the noose around private clinics involved in testing the sex of fetuses.
Recently, a lady doctor was arrested in Koderma district on charges of sex determination at her clinic in Jhumari Tilaiya. Dr. Seema Modi was arrested on May 26 and has been in judicial custody since. Many doctors saw red in her arrest and took to the streets. The Jharkhand chapter of Indian Medical Association (IMA) had also met Chandravanshi and sought a formal probe in the matter. The IMA also expressed displeasure over alleged “criminal-like” treatment of Dr. Modi by the local police. This was the first incident of a lady doctor being arrested and sent to jail on charges of sex determination since the formation of Jharkhand in November 2000.
Addressing the board, Programme Director of National Health Mission (NHM), Dr. Shailesh Kumar Chourasia said that a special awareness campaign will be run in the six districts of Jharkhand that have the worst sex ratio.
He also asked the board to ensure availability of various forms related to PCPNDT online.