Mehsana doctor trapped in sex determination sting

Based on a tip-off,the district authorities laid a trap to catch him and sent two woman officials from the PNDT Cell to Patel’s clinic with a pregnant woman. They asked him for a sex determination test. The doctor agreed to conduct the test for Rs 5,000 and asked them to come on Wednesday. According to PNDT Cell official Krupa Pandya,the conversation between the doctor and the dummy was recorded. The PNDT Cell officials were accompanied by district ACB sleuths. They have sealed his sonography machine.

She said that the accused doctor also tried to tamper with the evidence in the form of currency notes given to him and so,he has been booked for tampering the evidence and obstructing a public servant from performing his duty under the provisions of the IPC.

The district officials will file an Inquiry Report and submit it to the concerned court in Vijapur Taluka.

District Collector Ajay Bhadoo said they were tipped off by some local private doctors.

“With the help of the ACB,we sprinkled chemicals (used for taking finger prints) on the currency notes given to the doctor. The presence of chemicals on fingertips of the staff and the testimony of the two women became the evidence against Patel doing sex determination,which is a gross violation of Prenatal Diagnostic Tests norms,” he said.

Bhadoo,who also heads the PNDT Committee,added that they have announced a reward of Rs 50,000 to those voluntarily helping the district authorities find out doctors violating PNDT norms.

Notices issued to 16 gynaecologists

According to Chief District Health Officer (CDHO) of Mehsana Dinkar Raval,they have already issued notices to 16 gynaecologists.

A notice was served to Patel too,but he did not reply to the Health Department. Besides Patel,notices were issued to Pradeep Ojha at Vadnagar,Bhagubhai Chaudhary at Vijapur,Vishnu Patel and Sameer Patel at Kukerwada,and Jayesh Patel and Ramesh Patel at Mehsana.

“We are going to increase the number of sting operations and impose fines on the doctors who fail to give proper details about sonography tests conducted in a month. The district Health Department may form a separate team to conduct sting operations,” he said.