Stringent action demanded against guilty doctors

Jaipur, May 13 (UNI) Eminent health professionals have today demanded stringent action against the 18 doctors in Rajasthan who the pre-conception and Prenated Diagnostic Techniques (PC&PNDT) openly violated Act, exposed by a private TV channel in April this year.

In a letter to the health ministry, the doctors say that although five weeks have passed since the expose, the state government has managed to suspend only three government doctors till now.

The doctors comprising international health activist Dr Mira Shiva from Delhi, and Dr Joe Varghese, dental physician at CMAI, Delhi and others, said at a press conference here today that only some private clinics have been sealed but no other action has been taken which tantamounts to violation of the directions of the Supreme Court and the law.

According to the law, the doctors are supposed to be booked by the appropriate authorities in the courts of first class magistrates, However, to date, the guilty have not been charge-sheeted.

The doctors demanded that the state government immediately charge-sheet the guilty doctors because clinching eveidence has been made available to the authorities.

They also informed that most of the district and state bodies in Rajasthan constituted under the PC and PNDT Act are dysfunctional and hence demanded an immediate inspection by a National Monitoring and Inspection Committee of the Union health ministry.

Some NGOs and women organisations are planning a rally on May 15 in Jaipur to protest against the government's inaction in the regard.

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