Thayi Card mandatory for pregnancy scans: Dakshina Kannada DHO

Mangaluru: District health officer Dr Thimmaiah HR has directed all scanning centres to collect the Thayi Card from pregnant women during scans mandatorily.

He was speaking at a district-level advisory committee meeting on the implementation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994, held at the DHO’s office.

He instructed officials that if pregnancies are detected among girls aged 18-19 years, the date of pregnancy and proof of age must be carefully verified. Since pregnancies involving minors are illegal, the doctor or institution that first examines such cases must immediately inform the police, he said.

District enforcement officer Dr Deepa Prabhu said that from April 2025 to March 2026, inspections were conducted at 681 private and 39 govt scanning centres. In addition, taluk health officers inspected 75 private and nine govt scanning centres.

Since April this year, inspections have been conducted at 53 private and six govt scanning centres, while THOs inspected five private and one govt scanning centre, she added.

Senior officials, including Dr Amrutha Bhandary, Dr Sundari, Dr Anith Raj, Dr Rajesh, Dr Sujay and others, were present at the meeting.