5 Jhajjar medical officers get notice for poor sex ratio

5 community, public health centres record ratio of 787-892 against average of 914

Box: Late registration of pregnant women too

Jhajjar Deputy Civil Surgeon (PNDT) Dr Anchal Tripathi said an inquiry found registration of pregnant women after the first trimester (12 weeks) in 14 sub-centres that come under community/public health centres. These were Brahana, Barhai, Chhara, Guda, Goyla Kalan, Dulhera, Kanondha, Rohad, Parnala, Luhari, Ladravan, Kolipur, Aasuda and Akheri Madanpur. As per guidelines, women must be registered in the first trimester to prevent pre-natal sex determination. He said negligence in registration of pregnant women was one of the major reasons responsible for foeticide.

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Jhajjar, January 21

The district health authority has issued show cause notices to the medical officer (MO) incharge of five community/public health centres in the district for dismal child sex ratio at birth as well as late registration of pregnant women.

The officers have been asked to submit their reply at the earliest. The community/public health centres at Dighal, Silani, Kanondha, Machhroli and Badli recorded sex ratio between 787 and 892 as per the civil registration system (CRS) while overall sex ratio of the district was 914 in 2019.

“The inquiry found registration of pregnant women after first trimester (12 weeks) in 14 sub-centres, including Brahana, Barhai, Chhara, Guda, Goyla Kalan, Dulhera, Kanondha, Rohad, Parnala, Luhari, Ladravan, Kolipur, Aasuda and Akheri Madanpur, which come under the community/public health centres while such cases should, as per guidelines, be registered in the first trimester to prevent pre-natal sex determination,” said Dr Anchal Tripathi, Deputy Civil Surgeon (PNDT), Jhajjar.

Tripathi said action would be taken against the medical officers if they failed to file a satisfactory reply. He said negligence in registration of pregnant women will not be tolerated as it was one of the major reasons responsible for foeticide. “Jhajjar bounced back with a considerable 39-point increase in gender ratio last year after facing flak for steep decline of 45 points in 2018,” he said.

The district suffered a major setback at the end of 2018 when the gender ratio went down to 875 from 920 at the end of 2017. “There was a lot of pressure on us to bring back the ratio to more than 900 in 2019. Special strategies were chalked out to make people aware about gender imbalance, especially in villages where sex ratio was dismal. Raids were also carried out at private ultrasound centres,” said Tripathi.

He said 10 cases under the PC-PNDT Act and two under the MTP Act were registered in 2019 while awareness programmes against female foeticide were successfully organised in a number of villages in the district. The exercise proved instrumental in bringing a substantial improvement in the gender ratio in the district, he added.