Five ultrasound centres sealed

Five ultrasound centres here were sealed by Ganjam district administration for allegedly violating the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition Of Sex Selection) Act.
The violation of PCPNDT Act was detected during raids by the administration on seven clinics on June 12, officials said today.
"The administration issued show cause notices to the centres. The action was taken as their reply was not satisfactory," officials said adding a team of revenue, health, drugs control and police officials sealed the centres on Friday.
While some of the centres did not renew their licence, others failed to intimate the administration about their defunct machines.

Chief district medical officer(CDMO) Mrutunjay Mishra said the district has 36 regisgtered ultrasound machines of which five are in government hospitals and 31 in private ones.
The raids are significant as the child sex ratio in the district is lower than the state average. The ratio in the district is 908 girls per 1,000 boys according to 2011 census. The state average is 941 girls per 1,000 boys.

During the raids the teams also detected a private nursing home operating for the last five years without registration under the Clinical Establishnments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010, said Berhampur sub-collector Nikhil Pawan Kalyan.

Huge quantities of medicines supplied by the government were found in a centre.
Drugs inspector (Berhampur) S S Biswal has filed a case against the owner, Mishra said adding "Action would be initiated after receiving a reply, if it is not satisfactory.