22 sonography machines sealed,five MTP centres derecognised

Continuing the crackdown on sonography centres following reports of female foetuses being found in a field in Beed district,the Pune-based state Family Welfare Bureau officials have sealed another 22 sonography machines taking the total to 99 so far.

Drive against violators of Act on in state,health minister to visit today

Continuing the crackdown on sonography centres following reports of female foetuses being found in a field in Beed district,the Pune-based state Family Welfare Bureau officials have sealed another 22 sonography machines taking the total to 99 so far. The move comes ahead of the visit of Health Minister Suresh Shetty on Friday to assess the situation.

Another 467 sonography centres were assessed on Thursday by officials across the state for any violation of the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act (PCPNDT Act),taking the total to 1,428. Five more Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) centres have been derecognised taking the total number to 27.

Our drive is in full swing and all action is being taken. The drive will continue till June 30, said Suresh Gupta,additional director of the Family Welfare Bureau. Gupta said the state department officials were conducting raids in a big way. We might continue the drive and keep pressure on. We have taken up counselling of pregnant women in Beed district. Slowly it will be replicated in the entire state, added Gupta.

With 5,706 sonography centres in the state,machines in both private and government sectors are being monitored.

The raids were conducted in Jalgaon,Osmanabad,Nashik,Parbhani,Nanded,Jalna,Dhule,Latur,Hingoli,Buldhana,besides Beed.

Health officials say checking records was consuming time. Non-maintenance of records and non-renewal of registration as well as not having appropriate data on number of sonographies are being checked. Machines are being sealed if records are not found, said a health official.

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Dr RR Pardeshi,chief medical officer Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC),said that all efforts were on to track doctors not following rules. We need people to report to us about any malpractice, he said.

Vice-president of the Indian Medical Association,Dr D Shirole,said,We have around 50 doctors campaigning for Doctor for daughters,three are from the state,Dr YS Deshpande from Nagpur,Dr Gandhi from Akluj and myself from Pune. We have readied a kit for educating doctors. Baat (talk),Mulakat (discussion),boycott (bahishkar) and hawalat (jail) are being followed. We are helping appropriate authorities to carry out sting operations in case we are aware of any malpractice.

In-charge of Centre for Advocacy and Research Akhila Sivadas also expressed concern over the declining sex ratio in the state.

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