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The Indian health ministry is seeking to increase the quantum of punishment for doctors performing illegal sex determination tests, and also a rewards scheme for informers
More stringent punishments for gender determination tests -- widely in use despite being banned in India for over a decade -- is on the cards. The move to make amendments to the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Tests (Prevention of Misuse) Act 1994 (PCPNDT Act) has been prompted by a continued fall in India's child sex ratio, despite several measures to arrest the worrying trend. The recommendations made by the central advisory committee of the health ministry, which will be tabled for amendment in the next session of Parliament, include a quantum increase in prison time for violations of the Act, and a hike in fines. Other suggested measures include a medical audit of all gynaecologists in the country and online registration forms that have to be filled out by doctors who perform abortions or terminations of pregnancies. "The punishment for such crimes, which was imprisonment of around two to five years till now, has been recommended to be increased to around five to seven years, and the fine raised to at least Rs 5 lakh (from Rs 50,000)," Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss told the media on December12. According to other recommendations by the committee, the district collector will be the nodal official handling complaints about sex determination tests, instead of the chief medical officer as is the existing practice, Ramadoss said. "The district collector will have a committee under him and the state-level authority will also be changed with the director general of health services being the nodal officer." The health ministry committee also proposed online registration of forms which record every abortion done by a private clinic or doctor, Ramadoss said. "The online registration of Form F was discussed and the ministry has said that we need some more time to have a dedicated website," he said. The Ministry of Women and Child Development has also put forward its recommendations for changes in the PCPNDT Act, including monitoring the tax returns of doctors suspected to be involved in sex determination tests. There will be another meeting of the central advisory committee in February when the committee's recommendations will be finalised and amendments needed to be brought about in the PCPNDT Act discussed. It will then be tabled in Parliament. The declining sex ratio in the country has been a major area of concern, with sex-selective abortions considered to be the biggest contributing factor. States such as Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi have registered the sharpest dips in sex ratio. According to Ramadoss, the Indian government has called for a meeting in January 2008 of the health ministers of states that have poor sex ratios and is also organising a workshop for the judiciary, to sensitise them on the issue. Source: www.zeenews.com, December 12, 2007
www.ibnlive.com, December 12, 2007
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