Trackers to keep a tab on foeticide

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, December 4

Ultrasound machines will now have a tracker which will monitor and record every click of the machine to check female foeticide, the reason behind the declining child sex ratio (especially in the border districts).

To begin with, trackers will be put on the ultrasound machines in three border districts of Una, Kangra and Hamirpur, where the situation is more grim.

It will be a pilot project, which will be later extended to all districts in a phased manner. The declining child sex ratio, especially in the areas bordering Punjab and Haryana, is a constant cause of worry for the state government.

“We will soon be going ahead with the tracker installation as we are clear that anyone resorting to illegal means to abort a female foetus will not be spared,” said Kaul Singh Thakur, Health and Family Welfare Minister. He revealed that some doctors from the department had already undergone training at Indore to use these trackers and keep record of the machine.

The cost for installing one machine will work out to be about Rs 30,000. In case of a government hospital ultrasound machine, the total cost will be borne by the Health Department and in case of the private sector, the cost will be shared. The experiment was started by the Madhya Pradesh Government to keep a check on the declining child sex ratio despite objection by private clinics.

There are a total of 258 ultrasound machines operating in Himachal — 86 in government hospitals and health institutions. The shortage of radiologists has resulted in about a dozen ultrasound machines in government hospitals being non-operational.

The child sex ratio is the lowest in Una district with Haroli having the lowest percentage. The easy availability of ultrasound facility in Hoshiarpur, Nangal, Ropar, Pathankot and Panchkula areas in Punjab and Haryana has led to the termination of female foetus easily. Health officials from Himachal, Punjab and Haryana have now joined hands to ensure that that there is a check on the illegal activity and strict action is taken under the PNDT Act.

The officials pointed out that rather than waiting for the census, they were collecting data from the health officials annually so as to have the block-wise child sex ratio figure and special emphasis could be laid on the 20 blocks with the lowest ratio.