District health department cracks whip on ultrasound clinics

VISAKHAPATNAM: Alarmed at the declining child sex ratio (0-6 years of age) in Visakhapatnam district, the health authorities in the district are cracking the whip on ultrasound centres to ensure that they are not flouting the Pre-Conception & Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994 (PCPNDT Act).
Though still better than the national average (914/1,000), the child sex ratio in Visakhapatnam tumbled from 976/1,000 in 2001 to 961/1000 in 2011.Not only have the district health authorities begun conducting weekly inspections and surprise checks on scanning centres in the city and district, they have also not renewed registrations or given fresh registration to several centres due to various reasons in the past six months.
“Every week, our team conducts inspections and surprise checks on 4-5 scan centres in the city. In the rural areas, senior public health officer (SPHO) is conducting these checks. In the last six months, fresh or renewed registrations were not given to 83 centres due to various reasons. The registrations of seven mobile scan centres too was cancelled as they were found to be involved in various irregularities like divulging the sex of the unborn child or using the services of quacks instead of qualified doctors,” said Dr Ronanki Ramesh, in-charge district nodal officer for implementation of PCPNDT Act and additional DMHO.
According to Ramesh, the reasons for not granting registrations to the 83 centres included change of address or wrong addresses, or cases in which machines were sold off, lack of qualified radiologists, non-maintenance of records on the number and nature of scans and not displaying the rate boards, among others.
“Concerned over the child sex ratio which is declining due to various factors like neglect of the girl child, female infanticide, female foeticide, high maternal and infant mortality and sex selective abortions by amniocentesis, we are keeping a close watch on ultrasound scan centres in the district. While there are 318 such registered centres in Vizag district, there are 179 centres in the city,” said district medical and health officer (DMHO) Dr R Syamala, pointing out that every five years, the centres are supposed to renew their registration and on the fifth of every month, are supposed to keep the district health authorities informed about the number of scans done.
According to Dr K R Krishna Prasad, state general secretary of Andhra Pradesh Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (APNA) said that the government should focus on weeding out quacks and unregistered medical professionals from ultrasound centres and educating paramedics and other staff about the long-term implications of sex selection instead of terrorizing doctors and radiologists.
“Stringent punishment should be meted out to those divulging the sex of the unborn child. But we have also appealed to the health minister to ensure that the Act is implemented in a friendly manner. If doctors are caught for every minute lapse, no qualified radiologists or doctors would be willing to work in scanning centres,” said Krishna Prasad, pointing out that the association was also conducting regional meetings and regular awareness camps for doctors and staff of clinics and ultrasound centres to ensure that they adhere to the PCPNDT Act.
In Andhra Pradesh, at present, around 10.21% of the population comprises children. “This is lower by 3.14 percentage points as compared to the 2001 census. In all the 23 districts, there is a decrease in child population over the last 10 years. Also, the child sex ratio has declined considerably. Infant and maternal mortality continues to remain high in AP. The highest child sex ratio was recorded in West Godavari 970/1,000 males while the lowest is in Warangal (912/1,000),” stated Prof R Ramakrishna, honorary director of Population Research Centre, Andhra University.