The Hindu : Sex selective abortions spreading tentacles in rural areas

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 21, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad

Sex selective abortions spreading tentacles in rural areas

By Aniket Alam

Hyderabad Dec. 20. There was a worrying 11-point drop in the child sex ratio (0-6 years) between 1991 and 2001, a decade that saw a boom in the scan centre industry.

During the period many women went in for sex selective abortions based on the report of foetus sex determination tests obtained from the scan centres.

Demographers and activists have pointed out that sex selective abortions are rampant among well-off, higher caste and urban groups. But trends in the State suggest that this malady has spread to rural Andhra Pradesh where child sex ratio has fallen 14 points from 979 girls for 1,000 boys in 1991 to 965 girls in 2001. Surprisingly the urban areas had a four-point drop from 962 to 958. Though the urban child sex ratio has historically been low, the big fall in the rural areas is worrying as 72 per cent of the State lives in villages.

Social activist, Rukmini Rao, tells of tribal women who have taken loans from self-help groups to get a scan and sex selective abortions while P. Balamba, former Superintendent of Nayapul Maternity Hospital here, speaks of leading doctors and film artistes getting sex selective abortions done.

The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Test Act (PNDT Act) which prohibits scan centres and doctors from revealing the sex of the foetus has remained a toothless tiger in the State with only one instance of action taken this year in Khammam town. Officials in the Department of Family Welfare say it is not possible to get proof as defined by the law as both service providers and pregnant women are responsible for the crime. "Though we receive complaints, in the absence of clear proof it becomes next to impossible to take action," they say.

Scan machines have spread far and wide into remote towns and agency villages. Though Khammam district has only 45 of the State's 2,025 registered scan centres, many mobile vans from Vijayawada tour villages in Khammam district offering sex determination tests for as low as Rs.100. That this is not merely the spread of a useful medical tool is evident from the general perception among people that these machines can discover the sex of the unborn child.

On the first day of May this year the Khammam district medical and health officer raided and sealed the scan machine of Ramesh Babu at Srinivasa Scan Centre on the basis of a report where he had allegedly indicated the sex of the foetus by drawing a circle attached to a cross.

This action came after a six-month-long campaign among district doctors, radiologists, scan technicians and registered medical practitioners in villages about the provisions of the PNDT Act and the need to desist from sex selective abortions. This campaign was spearheaded by the district Collector, Arvind Kumar, and by doctors like Ravindranath and Nagamani organised with the help of Jana Vignan Vedika.

Despite awareness campaigns and warnings of severe action, sex of the foetus is being regularly disclosed to pregnant mothers, Y. Andhrajyothi, a long-established gynaecologist in the town, avers. But the effect of the raid on Dr. Ramesh Babu's scan centre was immediate, says Dr. Andhrajyothi.

Mr. Arvind Kumar says the stern warning to registered practitioners that they would be booked under the Indian Penal Code if found abetting sex selective tests or abortions has, for now, stopped the movement of scan vans in the rural areas.

However, Dr. Ramesh Babu says he is a victim of professional jealousy and blames Telangana-coastal Andhra politics among local doctors for the raid and appeals to the State Supervisory Board, constituted under the PNDT Act, against the cancellation of his licence.

The Board, which has the Health Minister as chairman, reinstated Dr. Ramesh Babu's scanning licence as it felt the district authorities had acted on `rumours.' Meanwhile, the DM&HO has rejected the applications of Dr. Babu for licence to open four more scan centres at Kallur.

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