Ever since the Pre-Conception and Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC-PNDT) Act was strictly implemented four years ago, 104 cases have been slapped in Maharashtra against doctors who flout the sex determination law. Convictions? None. While some doctors blatantly misuse the ultrasound machine for determining the sex of the foetus, others don’t have registered machines and a few others get in trouble for coming out with advertisements that promise baby boys. But while FIRs are filed against the doctors, the sealed ultrasound machine is released to the doctor and soon, both the machine and the doctor get back into business while the case languishes in court.Recently, Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil told doctors it was their responsibility to save the girl child and prevent a further dip in the sex ratio in Maharashtra. He said this when doctors complained that the paperwork involved was too tedious—they have to maintain records of every pregnant woman who consults them. Though Patil’s was a strong statement, are such verbal raps enough to rein in errant doctors? Will it help to simply issue government resolutions that talk of including more authorities at the district level to implement the Act? Recently, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was given a report on the skewed sex ratio in the country. The report said 11 doctors have been convicted in Punjab and nine in Haryana. These states have the poorest child sex ratio: in Punjab, it’s 798 girls per 1000 boys in 2001 and in Haryana it’s 819 girls per 1,000 boys. Though Maharashtra’s figures would seem better in comparison—913 girls per 1,000 boys—the situation is grim in the sugar-belt districts of Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara, Solapur, Osmanabad, Beed, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad and Jalgaon, which have less than 870 girls per 1,000 boys. Varsha Deshpande, head of the Dalit Vikas Maha Mandal, has filed a public interest litigation in the Bombay High Court appealing for the appointment of special courts to dispose pending cases against doctors. “We also need special protection for those who participate in decoy cases,” says Deshpande. So far, 23 sting operations have been carried out in the state to trap errant doctors.“Use the technology at a public place—that will ensure more accountability,” said Chanda Iyengar, Additional Health Secretary, Maharashtra, who is among those urging the youth to speak out against foeticide. But doctors say there are loopholes in the law that could be used against them. Dr Sanjay Gupte, gynaecologist and member of the advisory committee on implementing the PC-PNDT Act, says doctors are doing their best “but what if someone misses out a signature on a form that forms part of the records. Does that make the doctor a criminal?”
