Illegal sex tests: States get 2-week ultimatum

Union Health Ministry has finally been moved into action on the failure of many states to sue doctors found doing illegal sex determination tests.

The ministry has written to chief ministers of seven states to file cases against those doctors who have been exposed by various agencies like NGOs or the media while illegally scanning pregnant women to determine the sex of unborn child.

The ministry has given a two-week period to the seven states to report back on the action taken. It is also considering legal action against the states if they continue to protect the doctors who have turned ultrasound scanning for sex determination into a Rs 300-crore industry.

Health Minister A Ramdoss gave this assurance to NGOs and activists after his ministry came under attack last week for its silence on the state governments' failure to act against doctors found violating law. The states are Rajasthan, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat and Maharashra.

In the case of Rajasthan, the letter from the ministry urges Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia to hand over the cases of 35 doctors caught performing the illegal scanning to the CBI.

The ministry has asked the seven states to make their regulatory bodies implementing the PNDT Act functional. It is also considering removal of doctors from the posts of chief medical officers in districts and replacing them with non medical CMOs in the interest of the implementation of the PNDT Act, whose main violators are doctors.

The delegation pointed out the case of the Gujarat government which was recently taken to the apex court by the Centre over the razing of religious monuments in the state, leading to communal violence.

"If monuments are important then the lives of 40 lakh girls are not any less important," activist Dr Sabu George, a member of the delegation that met Ramdoss, said.

In the years since the PNDT Act came into being in 1994, 40 lakh girl children have been eliminated before birth, while only one doctor has been convicted so far.

During the last few months, about 100 doctors in the seven states have been caught on camera performing sex determination tests. But no district authority in any of these states has taken any action against even a single doctor.

To take up the entire issue in a comprehensive manner, Ramdoss has also called a meeting of the central supervisory board for implementation of the PNDT Act on June 14.

Representatives of the All India Democratic Women's Association, National Federation of Indian Women, Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, Sama, Ling Janch Evam Kanya Bhroon Hatya Virodhi Jan Abhiyan and activist Dr Sabu George were part of the team which took up the matter of non-implementation of PNDT Act with the minister recently.

The NGOs said they were optimistic that the minister would keep his promise. Sudha Sundararaman of AIDWA said, "The minister has agreed that doctors are getting away uncaught despite blatant violations of the law."

The ministry had recently brought out advertisements against female foeticide where it was called a sin. "It is not a sin. It is a crime and those who commit the offence are criminals," the activists said.

"A national disaster is happening when we say that 10 lakh girl children are being eliminated before birth every year," they pointed out.