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Call for shift in focus against female foeticide

Special Correspondent

`Target medical professionals using ultrasound machines illegally' "Target medical professionals using ultrasound machines illegally for the purpose"

JAIPUR: A family planning and population expert here over the weekend called for a shift in the focus of the drive against female foeticide from the seizure of ultrasound machines and scanners in the clinics of doctors allegedly involved in sex determination tests to action against the medical professionals using these machines without having themselves registered or licensed under the law.

R.K. Sahni, president of the Jaipur branch of the Family Planning Association of India (FPAI), told The Hindu ere that ultrasound machines, besides determining the sex of the foetus, were actually the life-saving gadgets detecting many internal diseases of the mother and the unborn child.

"Instead of seizing the machines, action should be taken as per the Supreme Court's directive of 2002 against the unauthorised persons using them," he said.

Prof. Sahni, who was honoured for his achievements in the Girl Child Project at the Independence Day function here this year, pointed out that the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994, prohibited the use of a pre-natal diagnostic technique by a qualified person at any place other than that registered.

"This provision automatically prohibits transportation of ultrasound machines from one clinic to another. This practice is in vogue and must come to a stop immediately," said Prof. Sahni. The professor has been associated with the campaign against female foeticide since 2001 under the Girl Child Project sponsored by the Central Government's Department of Family Welfare.

Referring to another incongruity in the implementation of the PC-PNDT Act, Prof. Sahni said the actual number of ultrasound machines supplied by manufacturers far exceeded the number of registered and licensed users in most of the States. According to a survey, only nine States could collect this information with Gujarat reporting the purchase of 813 machines against 484 registered users. This situation should be sternly dealt with under the Act, said the professor.

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