Will inspect Bhogpur centre again today, says CS

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, September 19

After the controversial raids on the Bagha Scanning Centre at Bhogpur landed the Civil Surgeon (CS) office in Jalandhar in a soup, a team of the local CS office is planning yet another inspection at the centre tomorrow, days after the doctor at the centre succeeded to escape (due to the alleged delayed response to raiding health teams from Ambala by the CS, as per the district administration’s report).

A report tabled by the DC office Jalandhar, on Monday, found serious negligence on the part of Jalandhar CS Jaspreet Kaur Sekhon and Family Planning Officer Gurmeet Kaur in the conduct of their duties, as per the PC and PNDT Act. While the report reached the Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Satish Chandra, on Monday, action is yet to be initiated against the CS.

The report is glaring on various counts – while the scanning centre was popular enough to attract patients all the way from Ambala, it ironically, escaped the attention of health officials sitting right in the district. On top of it, when approached with the irregularities, rather than promptly conducting the action, the CS office stalled the case – till the time the doctor of the centre ran, locking up the ultrasound room and taking away the records.

After the Ambala team tried to contact the Jalandhar doctor, as per the Civil Surgeon Ambala’s report (no. 951) cited in the DC’s report, the decoy customer got her ultrasound conducted on that very day from the same centre right before the teams conducted the raid.

The Ambala Civil Surgeon’s report which is included in the DC Jalandhar’s report, stated that: “As per statement of the decoy patient given before the teams, her sex determination was done by Dr HS Kang at the hospital sometime ago and she was communicated the sex of her foetus as negative, which amount to offence under the PNDT Act. The offence being cognisable, warranted an FIR against all touts and the scanning doctor and further investigation, which the CS and the local team refused. The decoy patient said after sex determination, she was advised abortion.”

Sources said when health teams reached the scanning Centre on Tuesday, an abortion had already taken place and five to six scans had already been conducted on the very same day.

Dr Arvinderjeet Singh, MO, Ambala, and a part of the team visiting the centre at Jalandhar, while talking to The Tribune, said: “There was no need for us to come to Jalandhar if the team there was doing its job. There are 250 plus registered centres in Jalandhar and this centre as well as another owned by its owner in the vicinity were registered but the CS never told us about the other one. By the time we reached the centre, some of the rooms were locked and the doctor escaped after taking the records with him. This happened due to the huge delay with which we reached the centre. More records could be accessed by us if the CSn had told us about the doctor’s other clinic. Moreover, a case had already been lodged by us, so there was no reason for the delay in filing criminal proceedings against the doctor. The delay caused us to lose out on records and helped the doctor to escape.”

Civil Surgeon Jaspreet Kaur Sekhon said: “All our action was taken as per the law. We carried out the action as per the technicalities of the law and as per due guidance from the state headquarters. The FIR was already lodged, we sealed the second centre by the same doctor on September 13 and launched criminal proceedings against the centre on September 17. Now that he notice period is over, we will be holding another check at the centre tomorrow.”

Timeline

Sept 11: Team formed under Nodal officer, PNDT Ambala, Sanjeev Singla, with help of Ambala-based pregnant woman as decoy patient started from Ambala to conduct raid at a scanning centre in Punjab, where illegal sex determination tests were being conducted.

7.30 am: Team of the Ambala Health Department leaves Ambala with informer and decoy patient.

11.45 am: Team, after coming to know from decoy patient that the centre was in Jalandhar, called up Civil Surgeon (CS), Ambala, so that Jalandhar Civil Surgeon (CS) JK Sekhon was directed to send her team to the Bhogpur centre.

12 noon: Ambala CS contacted Jalandhar CS with a request to send her PNDT team to Bhogpur but the latter asked the Ambala team to be sent to her office. The CS received calls from Sanjeev Singla, nodal officer, PNDT, Ambala.

1.26 pm: Civil Surgeon’s office called Dr Sajeev Singla, seeking the name of the centre so that she could send her team.

2.30 pm: Jalandhar team reaches near Bhogpur police station, two-and-a-half hours after the CS got the first call. Raiding teams find ultrasound room locked, doctor absconding and records missing from the centre. Later, an FIR was filed against the decoy patient, who got the ultrasound conducted from the centre) and FIR was lodged against touts and doctor of the centre at the Ambala police station.

Sept 12: Notice served on the centre by the CS office.

Sept 13: Not having informed raiding teams about second centre of doctor on Day One, CS inspects and seals second centre on September 13.

Sept 17: CS lodges criminal plaint against centre with CJM court six days after FIR. DC office sends report to Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Satish Chandra, finding gross negligence by Jalandhar CS and PNDT nodal officer.

Action yet to be initiated against medical officer

A report tabled by the DC office on Monday, found serious negligence on the part of Jalandhar CS Jaspreet Kaur and Family Planning Officer Gurmeet Kaur in the conduct of their duties, as per the PC and PNDT Act. While the report reached the Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Satish Chandra, action is yet to be initiated against the CS.