Chennai: Barely a month after officials of the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services (DMS) identified five illegal scan centres in Namakkal district and ensured they were closed down, they identified two such centres in the same district again.
Officials of the DMS, with the help of police, identified two scan centres in Senthamangalam and Rasipuram of Namakkal district on Saturday. Though the centres have been registered, they were revealing the sex of the babies, which is against the Conception and Pre Natal Diagnostic Technique (PCPNDT) Act 1994.
“Based on complaints and a tip off, we were able to identify the centres. The one at Senthamangalam has no documents of the registered pregnant patients, while the centre at Rasipuram refers its patients to another centre which tends to see patients without references as well,” said M. Kamalakanan, Superintendent, Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services.
Stating that a pregnant woman was charged Rs 2,500 to identify the sex of her child and an extra of Rs 500 when it was recognized as a male child, he said that there are many such cases which are swept under the mat.
The Superintendent, DMS, said that during a Health Department drive, as part of a sting operation at Namakkal district, between November 21 and 23, they were able to identify five such centres which reveal the sex of children. “We have, in 2016, identified 23 such cases, which is higher than the number identified in previous years. T
The state government has been providing us immense support in this regard and we can assure that next year on, awareness on the seriousness of this Act will be on the rise,” he added.
