Doctor ‘stung’ revealing fetus sex

AHMEDABAD: In a state reeling under skewed child sex ratio of 886 girls per 1,000 boys, the cost of helping kill a girl child in the womb is a mere Rs 9,000! A sting operation carried out by district health and police officials on Friday helped nab Dr Hemang Shah, practicing in Naroda, for revealing the sex of a foetus for a fee of Rs 9,000.
An FIR has been lodged against the doctor and his agent Ashok Patel for violating the Pre-Conception Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PCPNDT) Act.This is the second successful sting operation on erring doctors in five years.
In 2007, radiologist Dr Harshad G Thakkar was caught red-handed by the administration. Ahmedabad district collector Vijay Nehra said the sting operation was carried out to send out a strong signal that perpetrators of female foeticide will not be spared. The tip-off was given by a citizen and the pregnant woman agreed to volunteer to help the cause.
The operation was led by chief district health official Neelam Patel. Officials said that fearing action doctors have taken a back seat. Pregnant women are being entertained for tests only if they come through an agent appointed by the doctor.
In the sting operation, officials were tipped by a citizen that Ashok Patel helped sex determination tests done. A lady medical officer got in touch with him on Thursday evening and fixed an appointment for getting a test done.
Interestingly, the agent operates out of a hospital where no doctor is employed. Patel took the money and led a three-month pregnant woman who had agreed to be a decoy for the test to Dr Hemang Shah who conducted the test using a portable sonography machine and told the sex of the foetus. Chetna Chaudhary, inspector of women police station, told TOI that the duo was arrested on Friday evening and was booked under sections 20, 22, 23, 25 and 28 of PNDT Act and sections 201 and 204 of IPC. Investigations will be carried out if Dr Hemang Shah is registered and how come Ashok Patel operated out of a hospital, district officials said.
“There is a possibility that they are quacks who want to make quick buck from desperate couples not wishing to have daughters,” said Ahmedabad district collector Vijay Nehra. It needs mention that Gujarat had child sex ratio of 883 girls per 1,000 boys in 2001 which only marginally improved to 886 girls per 1,000 boys in 2011, prompting authorities to strike afresh on doctors enabling common people to kill the girl child in mothers’ wombs.