JOIN US The department of health and family welfare has sought a report from the district health officer, Belagavi, over dumping of 19 female foetuses in Maharashtra. The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) section of Karnataka’s Health Department is extending support to Maharashtra.
The district health officer has been asked to check if sex determination tests are being carried out in Karnataka as the village where the foetuses were found, borders the state.
Dr M Rajini, deputy director, PCPNDT to DH on Tuesday that the department has begun investigations. “Preliminary investigations show that the women did not undergo sex determination. However, we are examining centres in Belagavi,” she added. She said that last year, centres conducting sex determination were shut.
She said the department is coordinating with Maharashtra police to understand how the sex of these foetuses was determined. “If they were able to identify the sex physically, this means the foetus should is in the third trimester,” she added. This illegal, she said.