Bangalore: Sex Determination Racket Busted
DHNS
Bangalore, Jun 12: In a crackdown on pre-natal sex determination tests, a team from the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC&PNDT) Committee raided a diagnostic clinic conducting such tests in Jayanagar 4th block here on Friday.
The clinic, Rathna Diagnostic Centre, was found conducting ultrasound scanning, x-ray and other tests in gross violation of established rules and medical ethics.
The committee acted after receiving a corpus of complaints which revealed that the the clinic radiologist Dr V Suresh Kumar would willingly reveal the sex of the child for a fee.
On Thursday, a sting operation was conducted by a member of the National Federation of Indian Women (NIFW), Shashikala Belagali, who took a five month pregnant woman to the clinic as a decoy. While the ultrasound scanning was being done, Shashikala asked the doctor if she could know the child’s sex. The doctor initially said he could not reveal the sex, but when Shashikala insisted Dr Kumar agreed, provided she paid Rs 14,000 on the spot. After payment, Dr Kumar revealed the child’s sex to Shashikala. The entire operation was filmed.
While the PC & PNDT Act of 1994 clearly states that determination and declaration of the sex of a foetus as illegal, the rules are broken with impunity by several clinics. Ironically, Shashikala said this particular doctor actually charged less as the going rates for determining the sex of a foetus was between Rs 20,000 and Rs 25,000 for which no receipts are given. The license for conducting was issued by PC&PNDT Committee in 2007.
The doctor appeared to have been warned of the impending raid and he had skipped office on Friday, ostensibly due to a death in the family. A technician who also doubled up as the nurse was also missing, leaving the ayah, Sunanda, at the clinic.
Committee members who came with arrest warrants had to be satisfied with seizing the scanning machines and all the records kept in the office.
An examination of records pointed a needle of suspicion to another clinic. Chairman of the PC&PNDT Committee, Dr S Y Prakash Gupta stated that a preliminary examination of the records maintained at the Centre, showed that most of the referrals had come from Dr Sudha Shekar, a gynaecologist, who ran Kiran Clinic in Sarakki.
“This could indicate that the two doctors were conniving and Dr Kumar could have referred Dr Sudha for abortions,” Gupta said. The committee members visited to the clinic in Sarakki too, but it seemed as if the doctors and other employees had been forewarned. The clinic was shut and neighbours informed the committee members that it would open on Monday.
Committee member Dr Vasundhara Bhupathi said the panel will suspend Dr Kumar’s license to run a diagnostic clinic and write to the Karnataka Medical Council recommending suspension of licence to practice for five years.
Under the Act, Dr Kumar is also liable to pay a Rs 15,000 fine and imprisonment for three years. For this, the committee will be file a case in court.
About Rs 1.60 lakh in fines have been collected from 56 diagnostic clinics and hospitals for minor violations. Four cases remain pending in various courts against Aruna Hospital in Gayathrinagar, Chaithanya Polytechnic in Peenya, Vijaynagar Global Hospital and Sarvajit Diagnostic Clinic in Jayanagar East.