Health Min Ramdoss has no time for PNDT meet

Despite the revelation of nearly 50 dead female foetuses found dumped in wells near a nursing home in Patiala this week, the union health ministry has no plans to hold the meeting of the central supervisory board on Pre Natal Sex Determination Technology (PNDT) Act  scheduled for this month.

The board is meant to monitor and enforce implementation of the PNDT  Act, which bans sex selection and female foeticide. The meeting this month was to reconstitute the board, which had been found to be rather passive in the face of hundreds of doctors caught using ultra sound machines for sex determination tests in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh with no action against them by the state governments.

Sources said the on-going problems faced by Health Minister Anbumani Ramdoss over issues related to his removal of the director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) are to blame for the minister's neglect of other pressing matters like continued violation of the PNDT Act by doctors nationwide.

Ramdoss' trouble began with a long-drawn  medical students agitation protesting against quota in higher education, and he was then first drawn into a court battle with the director of AIIMS who he tried to dismiss.

He has fresh trouble now with the Election Commission examing a complaint challenging his right to continue as minister while holding an office of profit as president of AIIMS.

The new board was expected to include Women and child Development Minister Renuka Chaudhury and CPM politburo member Brinda Karat - both known for their aggressive and vocal stand against sex determination tests.

Another suggestion that was expected to be carried forward by the new board was the need to make a non-medical person the district nodal authority for implementing the PNDT Act taking it away from the district medical officer.

The board was forced to meet in June after several women's groups and activists led by Karat staged agitations and met the Health Minister seeking immediate action against over 100 doctors who had been caught on camera violating the PNDT Act.

The minister was forced to admit failure on his part in the Parliament about the continuing violation of PNDT Act  all over the country.

The meeting was co-chaired for the first time by Women and Child Develpment Minister Renuka Chaudhury along with chairman Ramdoss.

Brinda Karat, who was a special invitee at the June meeting, said: "The first meeting took place after the minister gave an assurance in Parliament. I will raise it in the House again."