Scan centres warned against skewed sex ratio
Number of girls per 1,000 male births too low in dt.
Salem: The State director of Family Welfare, Dr Banu on Monday warned of severe action against medical scan centres in the district which clandestinely indulged in sex-determination tests on fetuses and leading to illegal abortions in the backdrop of a highly skewed sex ratio being witnessed in Salem district.
Dr Banu, who has been intensely reviewing the public health activities in the district for the past three days, sent out a strong warning to doctors and para-medics of private scan centres not to misuse their facilities and to ensure their proper functioning during interactions she has been having with them.
The top-ranking medical administrator's action comes in the wake of two medical scan centres in Athur and Vazhapadi in Salem district having been sealed in recent weeks and the doctors running them arrested after they were found to be allegedly doing sex-determination tests on fetuses in expectant mothers, which has been proscribed by law.
After an inspection at the Omalur government hospital on Monday, Dr Banu expressed serious concern at the alarmingly declining sex ratio (number of female children born per 1,000 males) in Salem district. Dr Banu attributed this disconcerting trend to scan centres determining the sex of fetuses and subsequent illegal abortions expectant mothers undergo if the fetuses were found to be females. “This is what is leading to skewed sex ratio in the district,” she explained.
Stating that steps were being taken by the government to improve the sex ratio in Salem district in the days to come, Dr Banu said safe pills were made accessible in all government hospitals to avoid pregnancy as part of family planning measures and people should be made aware of such things, instead of resorting to sex-determination tests and illegal abortions in the prospect of a girl child.
While the overall sex ratio for Tamil Nadu was 927 girls per 1000 male births, for Salem district it was alarmingly lower at 915 girls per 1000 male births, she pointed out. This skewed sex ratio in Salem district has to go, she added.