According to top health officials, “After installing silent observers in 260 sonography machines in Kolhapur, the sex-ratio of the district remain unchanged.”
Silent observers (SIOB) fitted to sonography machines are turning into while elephants, says a report submitted to the state government five months ago.
According to top health officials, “After installing silent observers in 260 sonography machines in Kolhapur, the sex-ratio of the district remain unchanged.”
The state government has not published the report yet.
A member of the high-level committee told DNA, “Form F was found in place and SIOB could manage to curb the underreporting of sonography. But it didn’t affect the sex ratio of the district.”
“This could be due to some other reasons as well. There are chances that people might be opting out from the district for sex determination test,” said an officer.
Interestingly, impact of SIOB was measured within 6 months of the installation. A doctor, who was part of the committee, said: “A baby takes 8-9 months to deliver. How can we measure the impact in 6 months?”
Report recommends that the government must appoint an appropriate authority to handle sonography data. “It is handled by a private company, which could misuse or tamper with the data,” said an official.
Dr Suresh Gupta, additional director of health services, denies any such report. “That is only a draft report, which is yet to come to me. Talk to United Nations Population Fund’s head Dr DK Mangal.” Dr Mangal was unavailable for comments even after repeated calls.
Advocate Varsha Deshpande, an activist, said: “The silent observer will not help bring down the sex ratio and stop sex determination test in the state. Our NGO has found two doctors practising sex determination tests even though they had silent observer installed in their sonography machines.”
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