SALEM: A government doctor from Athur near here was arrested and suspended from service for disclosing the sex of a fetus and her illegal clinic was sealed in wee hours of Friday.
A team including officials from Health, Revenue and Police and led by joint director of Medical Services, while conducting a check at the private hospital on a complaint, virtually caught Dr Dhamayanthi Rajkumar red-handed while she was revealing the gender of a fetus to a woman patient the team had accompanied.
Sources said while Dr Dhamayanthi was working at a primary health centre in Thalaivaasal near Salem, she was also allegedly running a private clinic in the name and style ‘Madura’ at Athur. Amid complaints that the hospital was doing sex determination tests, it had already been sealed twice recently.
The latest action against the private clinic was based on another complaint. The officials’ team sent a pregnant woman to the clinic, where many pregnant women were waiting for tests. Following an inquiry with the doctor and other pregnant women visiting the clinic till late on Thursday night, the doctor was suspended from service and her clinic sealed.
The joint director of Medical Services, Salem (in-charge), V Sathya, said, “the doctor is charging a pregnant woman patient Rs 6,000 to reveal the gender of her fetus. She has also aborted female fetuses for some women after finding their sex. She is running a scan centre with assembled scan machine and a lap top. We seized all the equipment along with Rs 21,000 in cash.” One more scan centre in Vazhapadi was sealed on Friday.
