Since 2002, nearly 40 doctors from Pune have been booked under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique Act (PCPNDT), 1994, for assisting or conducting sex determination tests in the city.
Since 2002, nearly 40 doctors from Pune have been booked under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique Act (PCPNDT), 1994, for assisting or conducting sex determination tests in the city.
With this, Pune has topped the list of cities in Maharashtra where criminal cases have been filed against medical practitioners and others for violating the PCPNDT Act.
This is a blot on the city’s reputation, which regards itself as one of the most progressive cities of India and a national hub for education.
Sex determination tests in India have come under sharp focus ever since the internationally acclaimed medical journal Lancet published a study recently highlighting that selective abortion of girls was common in educated or richer households as they can afford ultrasound and abortion services more than the uneducated or poorer households.
The study states up to 12 million female foetuses may have been aborted in the country during the past 30 years.
Early this month, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) filed criminal complaints against city-based doctors — gynaecologist Makarand Ranade of Sadashiv Peth and radiologist Nina Mathrani of Laxmi Road — for allegedly carrying out illegal sex determination tests.
While most of the Pune doctors were booked on charges of conducting sex determination tests, the others were booked for not filling the mandatory details in the Form F and for operating unregistered sonography machines and centres in the city.
Speaking to DNA, PMC’s assistant medical officer (PCPNDT Act), Dr Vaishali Jadhav said, “In Maharashtra, since 2002, 158 cases have been filed against doctors. Of them Pune has 40 ongoing criminal cases. This is a very large number, which is very unfortunate.”
According to Jadhav, between 2002 and February 2011, the number of cases against Pune doctors was just 26. “However, in the last three months, due to active investigation and team effort, we managed to catch hold of 14 more such unscrupulous doctors who were found guilty,” she said.
“So far, 12 sonography centres have been sealed and nine registrations have been cancelled. A new team of four doctors has been formed that is investigating and conducting surprise checks on centres that are suspected of conducting sex determination tests and vi2olating the PCPNDT Act,” she said.
The PMC’s special legal advisor for PCPNDT, Milind Salunkhe said, “It is unfortunate that the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has registered just one case so far in the last nine years, unlike the PMC.”
Salunkhe said that according to the law, the parents and in-laws too can be punished and face up to three years in prison and fined Rs50,000 in case they are found guilty.
“Doctors are not the only ones who should face criminal charges; patients too are equally responsible. Booking patients would be possible only if the doctor reveals the name and details of the patient,” he said.
PCMC’s medical officer, Dr RR Iyer, justified filing just one case in August, 2008 on grounds that “we don’t want to trouble the doctors for no fault of theirs”.
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