Web Exclusive

Silent Crusade

Government officials find novel ways to enforce the ban on sex-determination tests. But the vigil has to be stricter, says India Today principal Correspondent Anna M.M. Vetticad.

Don't call Dr Tejinder Kaur of Chandigarh these days. She won't come to the phone. Nor will Dr S.N. Indora of Faridabad or Dr Manju Goel of Palwal, Haryana. The three have in recent weeks become arguably the first doctors in India faced with legal action for conducting foetal sex-determination tests. The unexpected distinction has come their way five years after the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act banned the use of ultrasonography,amniocentesis and other tests for sex determination, to prevent abortions of female foetuses.

The official crusade against such practices has developed an unusual modus operandi: decoy clients are being sent to clinics to catch doctors in the act, after the Supreme Court hauled up the Centre and states for not enforcing the Act. At a review hearing scheduled for mid-October, authorities who've done nothing so far can no longer claim that this law is impossible to enforce.

The medical community is panicking. "We missed the bus with the Consumer Protection Act," says Dr R.V. Asokan of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in Kerala. "We can't be caught napping on this one." More than any other statement so far, this remark is a precis of many doctors' fears on the issue. The Act does not place a blanket ban on ultrasonography. Its use is permitted to detect foetal abnormalities and sex-linked disorders. But Asokan believes the Act "contains too many ambiguities" and also leaves no scope for tracking a normal pregnancy in a woman under 35. The fears are not unfounded. State officials seem confused on the matter and the Centre should define guidelines in black and white to avoid chaos.

Judicial vigilance can have a humbling effect on people though. Punjab ima chief Dr P.S. Kande had earlier opposed the call for registration of all ultrasound machines, saying the ones used "for non-genetic services" should be exempt. Now he admits, "We realise that any machine could be misused."

But the government needs to think of practical ways to implement the Act in a country with a massive number of machines (one survey put the figure at 143 in Faridabad district alone). Dr B.S. Dahiya, civil surgeon in Faridabad whose idea it was to send out decoy clients, says: "Not a single penny has been allocated by the government for my duties under the Act. Why can't we be allowed to use the money collected from registration of ultrasound machines?"

One suggestion the government is taking seriously has come from Dr Sanjay Gupte of the Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecological Societies of India: he recommends that "ultrasound machines be given a registration number at the time of purchase, just like a car, so that the government can track the purpose for which it is subsequently used".

Sources say if the amendments to the Act are ready before the next Parliament session, an ordinance might even be introduced. Meanwhile, Union Health Minister C.P. Thakur says: "We have asked the Medical Council of India to strike a doctor's name from the register if he is caught conducting sex-determination tests." But there's still a long way to go.

Says Chandigarh-based lawyer Veena Sharma: "With greater awareness among patients about the illegality of sex determination in recent months, the only change in Punjab is that these tests have now become more expensive." For lives being yanked out of uteruses, the vigil just has to get stricter.

BUSINESS TODAY | INDIA TODAY PLUS | COMPUTERS TODAY
TEENS TODAY | MUSIC TODAY | ART TODAY | THE NEWSPAPER TODAY | SYNDICATIONS TODAY

Write to us | Subscriptions | Advertise with us
© Living Media India Ltd