Rajasthan intensifies drive against female foeticide

Jaipur, Aug 9 (UNI) Rajasthan health minister Dr Digamber Singh has ordered a FIR be filed against Mahavir Hospital in Udaipur and a complaint be lodged in the court for violating the PNDT Act and "aiding in termination of female foetus".

Dr Singh gave the order after chairing a high-level meeting of officials in Udaipur yesterday in connection with the illegal pre-natal determination tests and female foeticide.

He said the special team investigating the recent incident of female foetus floating in Udaipur's Fatehsagar lake, found on going through the Mahavir Hospital's records that a woman named Prerna had a sonography done on July 25. The sonography reports say the 16 week foetus was found to be healthy.

But the hospital records say Dr Suresh Gupta of the same hospital conducted the MTP(Medical Termination of Preganancy) which clearly proves that he violated the PNDT and MTP Acts.

The doctor and the women were interrogated and a number of raids were conducted on private clinics and hospitals in Udaipur.

The minister said the special committee also inspected the Kasturba Matri Mandir and found irregularities in its record. The committee then seized the sonography machine and cancelled the registration for MTP.

The registration of Aparna Hospital and Diagonostic Centre, Udaipur was cancelled as lacunae were found in conducting the MTP procedure and because of untrained nursing staff.

The chairperson of National Women Commission, Dr Girija Vyas, said in Udaipur that divisional-level monitoring committees would be formed which will conduct sudden checks of hospitals and clinics to stop illegal foeticides and pre-natal detemination.

She has also directed the anganbari workers working in villages to keep a check on women who are more than 12 weeks pregnant, so that no illegal termination of pregnancies can take place.

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