Law on ultrasound clinics has been amended; Centre tells HC

The Centre has informed the Delhi High Court that it has amended the law and the rules that had earlier allowed "sonologists" or "imaging specialists" to open ultrasound clinics or imaging centres in the country.
"If you have made the changes, then bring it on record before August 1, next date of hearing," a bench comprising Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice R S Endlaw said.
Indian Radiological and Imaging Association (IRIA) has filed the plea seeking a direction to the Union Health Ministry and the Medical Council of India (MCI) to amend the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) (PC&PNDT) Act and the PC&PNDT Rules.

The plea said the law and the rules permit "sonologists and imaging specialists or registered medical practitioners having six months training or one year experience in sonography or image scanning to set up ultrasound clinics or imaging centres".
However, there is no qualification in sonography and image-scanning recognized under the Indian Medical Council Act, the petition said.
"Interestingly, the Act talks of 'sonologists', a stream of medical study not known or recognized under IMC Act but does not mention medical radio diagnosis, a regular recognized stream of medical specialization, wherein doctors qualified with Post-Graduate Diploma/ degrees in the use of imaging techniques of various kinds," it said.

The Centre has not taken any step to cure the defect in the law and rather has "gone ahead with more registrations of persons, thereby acting contrary to the aim and object of the Act, which was to restrict the use of the pre-natal diagnostic techniques in the hands of few specialists for better regulation of activities", according to the petition.
"The scheme of the Act was to regulate by the processes of registration, monitoring/policing and punishing, in case of default. While on one hand, genuine practitioners are being harassed, more persons with lesser qualifications are simultaneously being allowed to operate ultrasound or image scanning clinics thereby thwarting efficient policing and regulation of the Act," it said.