In an attempt to snag diagnostic centres illegally offering ultrasound sex determination tests, the district administration will conduct sting operations by letting women Asha workers pose as pregnant women.
It has slapped notices on 70 centres for insufficient maintenance of documents mandated by the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act under which they are registered.
The Bangalore Urban administration could not go after violators in 2019-20 and 2020-21 due to Covid restrictions, a period in which they shut down only two centres and seized three scanners.
In a letter titled ‘Report on action taken from 2019 against the government and private hospitals that did not register under PCPNDT Act’, addressed to District Deputy Commissioner Manjunath J, District Health Officer Dr Srinivas G A said the Bangalore Diagnostic Scanning Centre had violated the PCPNDT Act in 2019 and the case is subjudice.
“In 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the district inspection and supervisory committee could not visit any private or government scanning centre,” stated the letter, a copy of which is available with DH.
The letter also said 145 new centres had been registered in 2019-20. Notices had been served in cases where lapses were found during the evaluation. Cases, however, had also been withdrawn if the centres had rectified the lapses.
“In 2021-2022, Aswad Hospital, Rupen Agrahara, was found running without KPME and PCPNDT registration. Hence, it has been permanently closed. Three scanning machines have been seized at the hospital,” Dr Srinivas further added.
He told DH that the case against Bangalore Diagnostic Centre has been pending in the high court since 2019 for allegedly performing sex determination tests.
“We have given notices to 60-70 hospitals so far for not maintaining proper documents under the PCPNDT Act,” he said.
The district monitoring committee consisting of a gynaecologist and a doctor from Nimhans meet once a month. “Last month, we raided and closed Aswad Hospital for continuing despite the lapse of PCPNDT registration,” Dr Srinivas said.
He said that the workload for the agency will get heavier since Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) has been extended from 20 to 24 weeks. “Although the rules have been notified, we are awaiting the implementation guidelines,” Dr Srinivas added.
Under the amended MTP Act that came into effect on September 24, those eligible for pregnancy termination up to 24 weeks include survivors of sexual assault, rape or incest, minors and women with physical disabilities, among others.
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