Reshuffle in anti-sex determination cell raises questions over work pace

No space was allocated in the civic body for the team and the members had to work according to each zone. They had to visit at least 100 centres in one zone. The state government made it mandatory for authorities to file a daily report on the number of inspections apart from the registry of renewal of licences of sonography machines. There are nearly 450 sonography centres in the city. Now,an internal reshuffle of four medical officers from the PCPNDT Cell to other civic medical centres and hospitals has led to queries about the importance of training and sensitising doctors to implementation of the PCPNDT Act. Asim Sarode,member of the advisory committee to the PMC on PCPNDT,said a great deal of time and effort is spent on training key personnel. “Medical officers are also trained in taking statements,sealing machines,collecting evidence and other action,which requires a fair amount of knowledge about the issue,” Sarode said.

On January 12,Dr R Budhkar,Dr M Khedkar,Dr S Andhale and Dr A Makhar were transferred from the PCPNDT Cell. Another order issued on January 10 has identified zonal medical officers Dr M Renukdas,Dr R Labde,Dr A Ingle and Dr M Lohar to oversee and implement the Act. This includes their other duties like managing national health programmes in the city. Dr Vaijayanti Patwardhan,member of the PCPNDT advisory committee,said it is important to accord priority to the issue. “It takes months to train personnel. The momentum should not be lost,” said Patwardhan.

Dr Vaishali Jadhav,the authority for implementation of PCPNDT Act,admitted that the officers had been transferred. Naresh Zurmure,additional municipal commissioner,however,said the pace of work would not be affected.